Happy Walpurgisnacht, my Sweet Ones!
Mwah, ...
Apr 30, 2013
My three beautiful notorious Swedish idols for you
On Walpurgisnacht:
Happy Walpurgisnacht, my Sweet Ones!
Mwah, ...
Happy Walpurgisnacht, my Sweet Ones!
Mwah, ...
Apr 27, 2013
Apr 25, 2013
Nope, there is absolutely nothing to see here,
Just neveryoumind, already! Got this from Charlie Pierce today, who got the picture from Gawker. I already knew about the heinously unconstitutional anti-choice law signed by Governor Brownback the other day, but I had no idea about the whole Jesus hearts Mary angle for Brownie's notes. Kissing in a tree, indeed. (Plus, am I wrong, or is the bill called Mega abortion bill?)
Meanwhile, Fox News wants to get the towels ready for another waterboarding party. The Koch brothers are interested in buying eight newspapers, including the LA Times. No one seems to be the least bit interested in doing something about the West, Texas fertilizer plant owners, despite the fact that they were in serious violation of just about every regulation imaginable and had not had a inspection by OSHA since 1985(!) Really, I know. I should just lay off those guys. Goshdarnit, they are the job creators in the boo-ti-ful Right to Work Bidness Paradise that is Tejas.
Then, there is the extremely icky icky story about Adam Savader. Sad, too, as this might end up putting a crimp in his plans for his shiny new political blog that he had planned to unveil on us (and the world.)
Anyhoo, there is an antidote for all this awfulness. On May 8, in Oakland, California at the Paramount Theater, Noam Chomsky will be a voice of reason to talk you off the ledge, and, perhaps get you in to the streets instead, trying to change life, as opposed to just reforming capitalism (policy, laws, etc, whathaveyou, ... )
(Oh, and two days after Chomsky's rap at the Paramount, the Paramount will be showing the noir classic, Laura, too. Sweet!)
Mwah, ...
Meanwhile, Fox News wants to get the towels ready for another waterboarding party. The Koch brothers are interested in buying eight newspapers, including the LA Times. No one seems to be the least bit interested in doing something about the West, Texas fertilizer plant owners, despite the fact that they were in serious violation of just about every regulation imaginable and had not had a inspection by OSHA since 1985(!) Really, I know. I should just lay off those guys. Goshdarnit, they are the job creators in the boo-ti-ful Right to Work Bidness Paradise that is Tejas.
Then, there is the extremely icky icky story about Adam Savader. Sad, too, as this might end up putting a crimp in his plans for his shiny new political blog that he had planned to unveil on us (and the world.)
Anyhoo, there is an antidote for all this awfulness. On May 8, in Oakland, California at the Paramount Theater, Noam Chomsky will be a voice of reason to talk you off the ledge, and, perhaps get you in to the streets instead, trying to change life, as opposed to just reforming capitalism (policy, laws, etc, whathaveyou, ... )
(Oh, and two days after Chomsky's rap at the Paramount, the Paramount will be showing the noir classic, Laura, too. Sweet!)
Mwah, ...
Apr 22, 2013
Learning about wine
Is like climbing Enchanted Rock in the beautiful Texas Hill Country.
Every time you have thought you have reached the Summit (and knew it all), you realize there is another summit yet to climb (and more to learn.)
Every time you have thought you have reached the Summit (and knew it all), you realize there is another summit yet to climb (and more to learn.)
- Ardent Henry
Letter from Reno
Perhaps the strangest moment I had in Reno was when I was first left alone, to my own devices, a subject to immense culture shock, in the smokey pit of the Atlantis Casino. As I pondered my options bewilderingly -- I could not quite yet check in to our hotel room -- I sat at a poker slot, found an ashtray, lit up a cigarette, and began to read from Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford ("... they shortened their hairs and their skirts and flattened, as far as possible, their chest developments, which does give, oh, you know ... a certain ... ") just as Something in the Air (smoke?) by Thunderclap Newman cascaded down from hundreds of tiny speakers (all next to hundreds of tiny cameras), snaking its' insidious ways through the labyrinthine carpeted pathways and curlicues and cul de sacs, all designed to disorient and subvert psychogeography. I was certainly disoriented.
"No, I'm never gonna do it without the fez on
Oh no
No, I'm never gonna do it without the fez on
Oh no
That's what I am
Please understand
I wanna be your holy man"
No clocks, and where does all that smoke go? Ring ring ring. Waterfalls and eagle squawks. Even sainted Hansel and Gretel's bread crumbs might not work here. I was always lost here. I swear the card tables were by the cabaret bar. Were not the dollar slots by the elevators? How many circles have I made? How could so much undead life exist here? Or, rather, the undead are the actual sentient beings. The "life", as it were, were the buzzers, blings, chattering canned voices, and a million lights of neon and ice cold illuminated digital ink.
The cocktail waitresses were near as grim as the punters, clad in short-skirted brown dresses and "nude" Mary Tyler Moore pantyhose. Most barely uttered the word, "Cocktail?" as they passed. They seemed mostly defeated and embarrassed at their prospects. They would occasionally liven up, speaking to their co-workers, or recognizing an old regular.
The first machine I played I won about eight dollars on just the second roll. I cashed out straightaway, and sent a picture of the ticket to my Sweetie, Renee.
I felt so out of sorts here at first. Perhaps it was because I was sometimes sitting idly at machines, smoking, clutching a nine hundred page paperback about the last Tory, set during World War I. I was convinced the die-hards had sorted my figure but quick. I was a dilettante, a parvenue. Not a soul, was I, to be suspicious of, as much as be curiously tolerated.
I had a v limited amount of money to gamble with, and I had had depressive frustrated relationships with these machines before. Twice before in Vegas, and once before, here, in the Biggest Little City in The World. Therefore, I was resolved to play penny ante bullshit drowning games with mostly nickel slots.
What a waste! Nickel slots are the vilest of them all, and I do not know why I am so attracted to them. Actually, I do know. The nickel slots give you the impression that you are actually "playing" something. And, they while away the time. In fact, the nickel slots are the best way for small-timers like myself to cadge free drinks (The typical desultory tone, "Cocktail, Sir?" "Budweiser, please.") and smoke furiously without guilt or shame. Except that California has changed me so much, that even in Cigarette Heaven (But no cigars or pipes in the Sports Book, please!) I could not help but feel a twinge of criminality every time that spark-like click was created by the roll of my thumb on my lighter.
"No, I'm never gonna do it without the fez on
Oh no
Ain't never gonna do it without the fez on
Oh no
That's what I am
Please understand
I wanna be your holy man"
But no more nickel slots for me! No, I have kicked them for good for sure at last. Surly cocktail waitresses with free drinks and cigarettes aside, they are humiliating machines. You can not really win anything on them, and they devour your pitiful bets in such small degrading amounts as to cut your soul. Death by a million paper cuts! Slow and wretched expiration.
Anytime I had won on my original bet on a nickel slot, even if it was only ten cents, I immediately cashed out. A ticket I could put in to another machine to change in to cash, deluding myself that I had won. Won what exactly? Ten cents? A good time? Entertainment? What sort of entertainment is this? (More on this later.)
But, eventually the specter of "entertainment", and "time to kill" conspired to change my mood, or strategy. I let a nickel machine (something about wolves) consume my meagre winnings, and finally, after hours of "play", put me in the hole.
I was furious with this wolf machine! This wolf had eaten me alive! I would either make it pay (Not bloody likely!) or would let it devour my spirit. (The real result.)
I moved over to the next machine (Glitter Kitty or some such) and played down my last four dollars I was willing to splurge on. Glitter Kitty was evil in different ways. Every time I would get down to ten cents it would pay back fifty. It did this, this bedazzled Kitten monster, about a half dozen times. So nasty!
Meanwhile, a youngish attractive man sat down to play the Wolf That Ate My Heart right next to me. And, as I was traveling from ten cents to sixty to ten to sixty to ten, etc, ... he had promptly turned his twenty dollar investment in to fifty! The nerve!
Seriously?!
But, ha ha ha, his machine malfunctioned and would not produce his ticket. He stood up and looked at me. "Damn," he said, "And I work here, too."
I returned to my one line two credit rolls: Credit $0.32. Bet $0.02. Credit $0.30. Bet $0.02. Credit $0.28. Bet $0.02. And on and on and on, ...
"And," he said, "I thought I just saw an attendant walk by."
I pulled from my Budweiser. Credit twenty-two. Credit twenty. Credit eighteen, ...
"Plus," he said, "I know how easy it is to get in to these things. Damn!"
He waited for a while as Glitter Kitty finally bested me, and I walked away without ever knowing if he got his money.
************
Thank god, the Wife!
The Wife had been repulsed by the casino earlier, "It is ten o'clock," she said, "And they are all smoking and drinking!"
But, now after a long day at work, she was a bit more tolerant and open-minded. Desperate for a smoke, and hungry, she lit up next to me at a dollar slot, and said, "Show me how you do this."
"You put your dollar bill in here, and then you place your bet. Push that button."
"You do it, " she said.
I said, "Don't you wanna pull the lever?"
"Right!"
Seven -- Bar -- Blank.
"Game over," I said, "Thanks for playing. But, you had fun, right?"
"Put another one in, " she said, her cigarette in the corner of her mouth. She pulled the arm of the machine towards her, and continued, "People get addicted to these things? I don't get it."
This time there were bells. Ring ring ring! The sound of coins raining down on to a metal counter top. The Wife had won twelve dollars.
"Cash that shit out right now!" she exclaimed.
I pushed the button for her ticket, and when it came out, said, " You have won us a cocktail!"
************
In the end, after I won three dollars on the dollar slots the next morning, we had lost a grand total of five dollars in the bright yet shadowy cacophonous fire-breathing smokey casino pit of Reno Nevada sin.
"No, I'm never gonna do it without the fez on
Oh no
Don't make me do it without the fez on
Oh no
That's what I am
Please understand
I wanna be your holy man"
Which was considered "Great success!" by me. Truth be told, we felt way more ripped off by the restaurants upstairs, with their fumbling service and serviceable fare.
Next time in Nevada: Dollar slots only!
All my love,
xxxoooxxx,
Michel Roulette
Apr 20, 2013
Hot damn!
The wife and I will be gamboling downtown Walnut Crick way to see Trance today.
Trance is Danny Boyle's latest film, and it reunites him with his Scottish MD screenwriter, John Hodge, who wrote Boyle's first clutch of films, including the two classics, Shallow Grave, and Trainspotting.
This is the type of film (like Ginger & Rosa) that I expect to get mixed reviews (Trance currently has a 69 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes) but that I expect I will like anyway. In fact, I figure I will prob like it for all the same reasons that those that did not like it had. I can just tell.
Plus, two of the Wife's faves are in it: Vincent Cassel, and dreamboat, James McAvoy.
I am excited. Looks to be a great last few days of my staycation.
xxxoooxxx,
love you all!
PS: The trailer above is a restricted red band one. Fun!
Trance is Danny Boyle's latest film, and it reunites him with his Scottish MD screenwriter, John Hodge, who wrote Boyle's first clutch of films, including the two classics, Shallow Grave, and Trainspotting.
 |
| Hmmm, Renee is excited, too! And, that accent! |
This is the type of film (like Ginger & Rosa) that I expect to get mixed reviews (Trance currently has a 69 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes) but that I expect I will like anyway. In fact, I figure I will prob like it for all the same reasons that those that did not like it had. I can just tell.
Plus, two of the Wife's faves are in it: Vincent Cassel, and dreamboat, James McAvoy.
I am excited. Looks to be a great last few days of my staycation.
xxxoooxxx,
love you all!
PS: The trailer above is a restricted red band one. Fun!
Apr 16, 2013
We all know what happened
Yesterday. And, I am not about to waste a significant amount of bit ink from my bit inkwell on yesterday's events, other than to say: Lest you allow terror to win, it already has.
When the friendface posts started rolling in, I switched off my lovely feature-length interview with Eric Rohmer, and hit the cable news outlets like much of the rest of the country. But, I could bear it for just so long.
I have no interest in speculation at this point. Especially the type of crazy dangerous speculation currently ruling the cable news platforms and the interwebs. This insane type of discussion informs the terrorist that they have won.
When I could take no more, I made an instant decision to watch Eric Rohmer's Six contes moraux in order. (The way they were intended, not the way they were ultimately released.)
The first is La boulangère de Monceau, a twenty minute black and white short, shot on a 16mm camera without sound. All the sound, including speech, was added in post-production. (French cinema does such a great job illustrating the attraction between women and their male butchers, and men and female bakers.) It is one of the most delightful little films I have ever seen, and a perfect antidote to a complex, sometimes hateful world.
My point being, hug your loved ones today. Curl up with that book you have been putting off for so long. Go hiking or hit the beach. Share some drinks with friends and see the game. Turn everything off and listen to silence for an hour. Walk the dogs. Take exercise. Carry on. Do some baking. Make a wonderful dinner. Work in the garden. Do anything but let hate win.
(Or, do like me, and throw yourself in to Eric Rohmer's enchanting world of young lovers.)
All my love,
Michael
When the friendface posts started rolling in, I switched off my lovely feature-length interview with Eric Rohmer, and hit the cable news outlets like much of the rest of the country. But, I could bear it for just so long.
I have no interest in speculation at this point. Especially the type of crazy dangerous speculation currently ruling the cable news platforms and the interwebs. This insane type of discussion informs the terrorist that they have won.
When I could take no more, I made an instant decision to watch Eric Rohmer's Six contes moraux in order. (The way they were intended, not the way they were ultimately released.)
The first is La boulangère de Monceau, a twenty minute black and white short, shot on a 16mm camera without sound. All the sound, including speech, was added in post-production. (French cinema does such a great job illustrating the attraction between women and their male butchers, and men and female bakers.) It is one of the most delightful little films I have ever seen, and a perfect antidote to a complex, sometimes hateful world.
My point being, hug your loved ones today. Curl up with that book you have been putting off for so long. Go hiking or hit the beach. Share some drinks with friends and see the game. Turn everything off and listen to silence for an hour. Walk the dogs. Take exercise. Carry on. Do some baking. Make a wonderful dinner. Work in the garden. Do anything but let hate win.
(Or, do like me, and throw yourself in to Eric Rohmer's enchanting world of young lovers.)
All my love,
Michael
Apr 15, 2013
Well, Nick C,
We are getting closer and closer to May 10th. That is the day that Bazmania takes on F Scott F in three mind-blowing dimensions!
We will ply you w/ Scotch at Va de Vi before, but you would best bring a flask as well, yourself.
Heck, we should just try and get the whole day off! Maybe we could read the book right before we walk in to the theater.
No backing out now, kitten! It is going to be a wonderful time for all, old Sport! Does Carey Mulligan have a voice like money? We will find out!
Ciao!
mds
We will ply you w/ Scotch at Va de Vi before, but you would best bring a flask as well, yourself.
Heck, we should just try and get the whole day off! Maybe we could read the book right before we walk in to the theater.
No backing out now, kitten! It is going to be a wonderful time for all, old Sport! Does Carey Mulligan have a voice like money? We will find out!
Ciao!
 |
| Nick, I know you were worried about finding the perfect pants, too. |
mds
Apr 9, 2013
The Wife might very well be right,
That no matter how powerful and moving and truly great the film, Ginger & Rosa, is, that it might not be the type of film I would like to own, or even watch again. No, I take that back, I would definitely like to see it again, maybe rent it or watch it on Netflix when those things happen.
Ginger & Rosa is a very serious film about truly dark secrets, and the tenuousness of life. It tells the tale of a young girl, Ginger, played by Elle Fanning, who literally can not see a future for herself (or the rest of the world, for that matter; the film is set during the Cuban Missile Crisis) until she becomes in touch with her secret, and exposes the "villain" to her family.
It takes some prodding from Annette Bening's character, an American activist, and a sort of mother figure to the young activist-minded Ginger, and an incarceration, to finally see a future.
(And, can I just say, that Annette Bening is truly one of the best of a small handful of great actors working in the cinema today.)
The film, honestly, gets off to a rousing start, and then becomes very uneven in terms of acting and writing before becoming a steaming locomotive with power-packed gut wrenching scenes and very smart editing, eventually coming to a conclusion with two monster sequences/scenes.
This film also contains the best slap I have seen in the cinema since Mildred Pierce let Veda have it back in the Forties!
Sally Potter wrote and directed, and she is a director I have seriously not paid enough attention to. That will be corrected, and I will keep you updated.
Ginger & Rosa comes extremely highly recommended by me, but I will warn you, it is slow at times; is extremely heavy material; and not every one of the American actors exactly does a great job with their English accents. But, even the greatest of cinema experiences can be slightly flawed sometimes.
(Plus, Christina Hendricks is in it. What more do you need?)
Mwah, ...
Ginger & Rosa is a very serious film about truly dark secrets, and the tenuousness of life. It tells the tale of a young girl, Ginger, played by Elle Fanning, who literally can not see a future for herself (or the rest of the world, for that matter; the film is set during the Cuban Missile Crisis) until she becomes in touch with her secret, and exposes the "villain" to her family.
It takes some prodding from Annette Bening's character, an American activist, and a sort of mother figure to the young activist-minded Ginger, and an incarceration, to finally see a future.
(And, can I just say, that Annette Bening is truly one of the best of a small handful of great actors working in the cinema today.)
The film, honestly, gets off to a rousing start, and then becomes very uneven in terms of acting and writing before becoming a steaming locomotive with power-packed gut wrenching scenes and very smart editing, eventually coming to a conclusion with two monster sequences/scenes.
This film also contains the best slap I have seen in the cinema since Mildred Pierce let Veda have it back in the Forties!
Sally Potter wrote and directed, and she is a director I have seriously not paid enough attention to. That will be corrected, and I will keep you updated.
Ginger & Rosa comes extremely highly recommended by me, but I will warn you, it is slow at times; is extremely heavy material; and not every one of the American actors exactly does a great job with their English accents. But, even the greatest of cinema experiences can be slightly flawed sometimes.
(Plus, Christina Hendricks is in it. What more do you need?)
Mwah, ...
Apr 8, 2013
I suspect that by the time the Wife
Gets close to, or catches up to the current episodes of Mad Men, she will have already become bored with it, and that it will be a show she promptly forgets about. It is like an ephemeral Don Draper affair.
I also suspect that the Wife suspects that I probably like Mad Men more than I let on.
************
And, oh yeah, that was just about the slammingnest greatest birthday weekend evah! Big thanks to Mum and Da, Bob and Barb, and my Sweetie!
More on Jardiniere, Ginger & Rosa, The 39 Steps and everything else great about the weekend soon!
xxxoooxxx
I also suspect that the Wife suspects that I probably like Mad Men more than I let on.
************
And, oh yeah, that was just about the slammingnest greatest birthday weekend evah! Big thanks to Mum and Da, Bob and Barb, and my Sweetie!
More on Jardiniere, Ginger & Rosa, The 39 Steps and everything else great about the weekend soon!
xxxoooxxx
Apr 6, 2013
Apr 5, 2013
Birthday Weekend! Birthday Weekend! Birthday Weekend!
And here are the plans: Tomorrow it is off to the City to see Ginger and Rosa at the Opera Plaza Cinema.
Then, it is off to The Bubble Lounge in the Financial District. Woo-hoo!
On Sunday (It's Michael's Birthday! It's Michael's Birthday! It's Michael's Birthday!) we will go see the play production of The 39 Steps at the Lesher here in Walnut Creek (Thank you, Bob and Barb!) And then trek back off to the City for a seven PM reservation at Jardiniere! (Thank you, Da and Mum!)
What a fabulous weekend I will be spending with my wonderful Wife! Love you, Sweetie!
Mwah, ...
Then, it is off to The Bubble Lounge in the Financial District. Woo-hoo!
On Sunday (It's Michael's Birthday! It's Michael's Birthday! It's Michael's Birthday!) we will go see the play production of The 39 Steps at the Lesher here in Walnut Creek (Thank you, Bob and Barb!) And then trek back off to the City for a seven PM reservation at Jardiniere! (Thank you, Da and Mum!)
What a fabulous weekend I will be spending with my wonderful Wife! Love you, Sweetie!
Mwah, ...
Tinto Brass, another bad-ass Aries!
Tinto Brass, born in Milan on March 26th 1933, has been making films for over fifty years now. And, according to imdb, is currently in the midst of production for another film as we speak.
Brass has worked in a number of genres, but is best known, of course, as an erotic filmmaker. Brass does not make pornographic films. He makes erotic films. Most of his erotic films fit in to the classic Italian comedy style, wherein young newly married lovers can not really learn to love each other until they have had experience and been "taught" by outsiders. But, he also will make very serious erotic films such as Salon Kitty or The Key.
All of his films have real plots, real dialogue, and stories.
He is probably best known for his work on the infamous Caligula film in the seventies, though he asked his name be taken off the credits as he did not get final cut on the scenes he shot, and he does not like to show graphic sex in his films.
Tinto Brass, to me, is about as typical an Aries type as you can get. Happy eightieth birthday, brother!
(And, no, I am not providing you folks any links to videos! You are on your own, kids!)
All my Aries love,
Kisses on the bottom,
Ardent
 |
| Tinto Brass |
Brass has worked in a number of genres, but is best known, of course, as an erotic filmmaker. Brass does not make pornographic films. He makes erotic films. Most of his erotic films fit in to the classic Italian comedy style, wherein young newly married lovers can not really learn to love each other until they have had experience and been "taught" by outsiders. But, he also will make very serious erotic films such as Salon Kitty or The Key.
All of his films have real plots, real dialogue, and stories.
He is probably best known for his work on the infamous Caligula film in the seventies, though he asked his name be taken off the credits as he did not get final cut on the scenes he shot, and he does not like to show graphic sex in his films.
Tinto Brass, to me, is about as typical an Aries type as you can get. Happy eightieth birthday, brother!
(And, no, I am not providing you folks any links to videos! You are on your own, kids!)
All my Aries love,
Kisses on the bottom,
Ardent
Apr 4, 2013
Apr 3, 2013
Another bad-ass Aries: David Letterman,
Born April 12, 1947.
I can not tell you how much Mr Letterman has influenced my art and life. I still use lines of his ("I don't know what that means.") and deliver jokes in the exact same style as him.
My Da, Andy, was the person who turned me on to Letterman in the Spring of 1983, when Letterman was still on NBC. I remember telling Andy the next day that I did not get it, did not think the show was all that funny. He said, "You have only seen one show. You have to watch it every night."
Boy, was my Da right. And, I watched every night for over ten years, even moving over to CBS with him in the 90s.
I do not watch the show now, and I doubt it could ever be nearly as good as the 80s NBC glory years with Pee Wee Herman, Brother Theodore, Sandra Bernhard, the Top Ten Lists, Stupid Pet Tricks, Brush with Greatness (I have a brill one, by the way, but have never been anywhere New York City), Viewer Mail, Chris Elliot, and on and on, ...
Happy birthday, bruvver Letterman!
Mwah, ...
I can not tell you how much Mr Letterman has influenced my art and life. I still use lines of his ("I don't know what that means.") and deliver jokes in the exact same style as him.
My Da, Andy, was the person who turned me on to Letterman in the Spring of 1983, when Letterman was still on NBC. I remember telling Andy the next day that I did not get it, did not think the show was all that funny. He said, "You have only seen one show. You have to watch it every night."
Boy, was my Da right. And, I watched every night for over ten years, even moving over to CBS with him in the 90s.
I do not watch the show now, and I doubt it could ever be nearly as good as the 80s NBC glory years with Pee Wee Herman, Brother Theodore, Sandra Bernhard, the Top Ten Lists, Stupid Pet Tricks, Brush with Greatness (I have a brill one, by the way, but have never been anywhere New York City), Viewer Mail, Chris Elliot, and on and on, ...
Happy birthday, bruvver Letterman!
Mwah, ...
Apr 2, 2013
Sometimes a Cigar is just a Cigar
The documentary, Room 237, is something I think I might like to eventually own. I love how the filmmakers give their five witnesses just enough rope to hang themselves on, but still make such an intoxicating film that has such a notable creepy seductive power.
Watching, you want to believe that these witnesses might just have the key that will finally open you up to all the really dark scary things our lives contain.
It is a wholesome attempt, but falls just short, in the end. These folks, witnesses, ultimately begin to seem "oh, my friends/and, oh, my foes" more than a bit silly.
Many of the things they talk about are patently ludicrous and "made up" by a slavish devotion to the notion that Kubrick would never have a continuity error in The Shining. It must be a conscious choice! They give entirely too much credit to Kubrick, practically resting supine in the glow of Kubrick's aura.
But, the film is so objective, and earnest, in such a good-natured way, that you start to believe that there might just be applications like these for other films, or other types of art. One of the witnesses insists that even if Kubrick did not honestly intend for all those messages to be conveyed through The Shining, that some or many of the secret messages that he has divined from the film are very likely the result of Kubrick's subconscious instead. Nice way to cover your behind.
I am a big Intentional Fallacy kind of guy, anyway. And a sucker sometimes for conspiracy theories, if only to challenge existing views critically, break them down, and then destroy them for my own personal security blanket reasons.
I read all those subliminal advertising paperbacks back in the day. And, I used to be heavily in to Astrology as a child, and still enjoy it in a lighthearted fun sort of way today.
These witnesses might enrich my experience of watching The Shining again. But, I have seen it so many times, and, strangely enough after watching Room 237, I was more eager to watch other Kubrick films, i.e. Lolita, Full Metal Jacket, 2001, and Barry Lyndon, that I might be more apt in the near future to want to watch the criticism (Room 237) more than the text (The Shining).
David Thomson in his "review" of Room 237 seems to suggest skipping Room 237 altogether and simply watch The Shining again.
I can not say I agree with his sentiments, at all.
Anyhoo, Room 237 comes highly recommended by me, especially if you are a serious devotee of the film, The Shining, or Kubrick, in general.
xxxoooxxx
Ardent
Watching, you want to believe that these witnesses might just have the key that will finally open you up to all the really dark scary things our lives contain.
It is a wholesome attempt, but falls just short, in the end. These folks, witnesses, ultimately begin to seem "oh, my friends/and, oh, my foes" more than a bit silly.
Many of the things they talk about are patently ludicrous and "made up" by a slavish devotion to the notion that Kubrick would never have a continuity error in The Shining. It must be a conscious choice! They give entirely too much credit to Kubrick, practically resting supine in the glow of Kubrick's aura.
But, the film is so objective, and earnest, in such a good-natured way, that you start to believe that there might just be applications like these for other films, or other types of art. One of the witnesses insists that even if Kubrick did not honestly intend for all those messages to be conveyed through The Shining, that some or many of the secret messages that he has divined from the film are very likely the result of Kubrick's subconscious instead. Nice way to cover your behind.
I am a big Intentional Fallacy kind of guy, anyway. And a sucker sometimes for conspiracy theories, if only to challenge existing views critically, break them down, and then destroy them for my own personal security blanket reasons.
I read all those subliminal advertising paperbacks back in the day. And, I used to be heavily in to Astrology as a child, and still enjoy it in a lighthearted fun sort of way today.
These witnesses might enrich my experience of watching The Shining again. But, I have seen it so many times, and, strangely enough after watching Room 237, I was more eager to watch other Kubrick films, i.e. Lolita, Full Metal Jacket, 2001, and Barry Lyndon, that I might be more apt in the near future to want to watch the criticism (Room 237) more than the text (The Shining).
David Thomson in his "review" of Room 237 seems to suggest skipping Room 237 altogether and simply watch The Shining again.
I can not say I agree with his sentiments, at all.
Anyhoo, Room 237 comes highly recommended by me, especially if you are a serious devotee of the film, The Shining, or Kubrick, in general.
xxxoooxxx
Ardent
Last night the Wife and I finally learned
Why people abandon grocery carts full of product on the sales floor. They do not pay for the product, they simply leave the store. We learned it watching an episode of Mad Men.
************
(Yes yes yes, I have finally bowed to enormous outside pressure and have decided to give Mad Men another chance. Renee and I have started at the very beginning, naturally, and have knocked off about seven episodes of the first season in two days. The Wife likes the program, but, honestly, I feel much the same way about the program now as I did before. I still believe that they cynically use the anti Semitism, and sexism, and racism in the show to "sex" up the program, and make it "edgy", and more attractive to the viewers. I also feel that the writing is horribly uneven, with many scenes rambling on incoherently way too long. Another good standard for films or plays or scripted television or whatever for me, is that even if it is a serious drama, is that there should be a good deal of humor, and Mad Men just does make me laugh, at all, ever. The period detail and costumes are fantastic, but I also think they are so heavy handed with it at some times, that it makes me want to scream. In an episode I watched last night, we must have seen a half dozen inset close ups of the lettuce and tomato "chip 'n' dip". I get it. Someone built or found this amazing 60s artifact. Give the PD and the props person a raise, already. Some of the sets are great, yet some of the sets do not play well under nighttime lighting. Notably, the Draper kitchen makes for a terrible nighttime setting that reminds me of high school theatre. And, no, I am not buying, or care about Don Draper's secret hidden past. At this point, the only characters I really seriously care about are Christina Hendricks' Joan, and Maggie Siff's Rachel Menken. But, I will keep on watching until the end, and keep everyone updated, even though I am seriously underwhelmed at this point.)
************
Anyroad, let us get back to abandoned grocery carts: There is a scene in the first season where the notorious divorced Kennedy-supporting neighborhood walker, Helen Bishop, confronts the dopey, annoying Mrs Draper about the fact that Mrs Draper gave Bishop's very strange son a lock of her golden hair, which he is keeping in his "treasure box". Bishop scolds Draper, and asks why a woman like her would give something like that to a nine year old boy. Draper loses her cool, and slaps Bishop. She then buttons up her pocket book, abandons her full grocery cart, and exits the scene.
I immediately turned to the Wife and said, "That's why people abandon their carts at the store!"
The Wife said, "Sometimes bitches gotta slap some bitches!"
All my love,
Ardent
P.S. This post has been corrected for Renee's real quote, as she has given the go ahead for such.
AH
************
(Yes yes yes, I have finally bowed to enormous outside pressure and have decided to give Mad Men another chance. Renee and I have started at the very beginning, naturally, and have knocked off about seven episodes of the first season in two days. The Wife likes the program, but, honestly, I feel much the same way about the program now as I did before. I still believe that they cynically use the anti Semitism, and sexism, and racism in the show to "sex" up the program, and make it "edgy", and more attractive to the viewers. I also feel that the writing is horribly uneven, with many scenes rambling on incoherently way too long. Another good standard for films or plays or scripted television or whatever for me, is that even if it is a serious drama, is that there should be a good deal of humor, and Mad Men just does make me laugh, at all, ever. The period detail and costumes are fantastic, but I also think they are so heavy handed with it at some times, that it makes me want to scream. In an episode I watched last night, we must have seen a half dozen inset close ups of the lettuce and tomato "chip 'n' dip". I get it. Someone built or found this amazing 60s artifact. Give the PD and the props person a raise, already. Some of the sets are great, yet some of the sets do not play well under nighttime lighting. Notably, the Draper kitchen makes for a terrible nighttime setting that reminds me of high school theatre. And, no, I am not buying, or care about Don Draper's secret hidden past. At this point, the only characters I really seriously care about are Christina Hendricks' Joan, and Maggie Siff's Rachel Menken. But, I will keep on watching until the end, and keep everyone updated, even though I am seriously underwhelmed at this point.)
************
Anyroad, let us get back to abandoned grocery carts: There is a scene in the first season where the notorious divorced Kennedy-supporting neighborhood walker, Helen Bishop, confronts the dopey, annoying Mrs Draper about the fact that Mrs Draper gave Bishop's very strange son a lock of her golden hair, which he is keeping in his "treasure box". Bishop scolds Draper, and asks why a woman like her would give something like that to a nine year old boy. Draper loses her cool, and slaps Bishop. She then buttons up her pocket book, abandons her full grocery cart, and exits the scene.
I immediately turned to the Wife and said, "That's why people abandon their carts at the store!"
The Wife said, "Sometimes bitches gotta slap some bitches!"
All my love,
Ardent
 |
| "She needs the ten inch bamboo cigarette holder, and the black leather patent gloves" |
P.S. This post has been corrected for Renee's real quote, as she has given the go ahead for such.
AH
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