John Oliver's new show, Last Week Tonight, on HBO is so great.

It is on HBO most every Sunday evening.














--Ardent (mds)

Man, what happened to intellectual discourse in our country?

Why is being an intellectual considered a crime?

What happened to the days when Sontag, Chomsky, Vidal, Mailer, Germaine Greer, Kate Millet, Joan Didion, and Hannah Arendt would be on the late night chat shows?

What the flip happened?

************

I was just watching HBO's latest doc triumph, The 50 Year Argument, directed by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi, which is about the history of the New York Review of Books.

(I do not read the New York Review of Books nearly enough.  I generally only buy it when I am in superb indie bookstores -- which is nearly never now.  The last one I bought was at Shakespeare & Company in Paris! In April!)

Anyhoo, the very fine documentary just made me pine for the 60s and 70s when so many of this nation's greatest thinkers would not only appear in print, but were eager to do television, as well.

The 50 Year Argument then led me to the above full length feature film, Town Bloody Hall.  That film is bloody brilliant.  It is Norman Mailer versus a half dozen leading feminists (and Susan Sontag, in the crowd), and a thousand or so other women in the crowd with Sontag.

You can watch The 50 Year Argument on HBO or HBOGo, and Town Bloody Hall on YouTube.  Great stuff.

Still, what the fuck happened, man? Why is it all FoxNews and Housewives of Wherever now that rule our media world?

From Andy Warhol's "Screen Test" for Susan Sontag

--Ardent (mds)

FINALLY finally finally saw Design Is One last night.

Massimo and Lella Vignelli

And, I am just so in love with the Vignellis.  I just want to hug 'em, you know what I mean? I wish they were our next door neighbors, and the Wife and I could have them over for tea, and they would bring over their awesome tea cups that they designed.  Or we'd have pasta in their beautiful modernist pasta bowls.  We would look at all their catalogues, or architecture books that they designed, or Renee & I would marvel over and play with Lella Vignelli's insanely fun jewelry that she designed. That would be perfect, you know.

Vignelli tea cups

The Vignellis are an Italian married couple that have been changing millions of people's lives every day, without them ever knowing it.  They have been married for over fifty years now, and they are still working as hard as ever.  They design everything.  They are not specialists. Jewelry, flatware, cups, chairs, interior design, a cathedral in Manhattan, architecture books, the US National Park brochures, clothes, anything.

Their personal motto is:  "If you can't find it, design it."

Of course, what they are best known for, though, are the corporate identities that they designed and that Massimo Vignelli designed the New York City Subway and Transit identity.

Many of the corporate identities that they created have still not been changed, forty or more years on.

Below, are some of their 'Greatest Hits':

And, on and on and on and on.  Plus, they are just the nicest sweetest people ever.  I just want to hug 'em, have 'em over for tea. You know what I mean?























Mwah, ... 

Lella and Massimo Vignelli

Here is a list of the best films I have seen this year.

First, the films that came out in 2014:

Grand Budapest Hotel, dir Wes Anderson
The Double, dir Richard Ayoade
Obvious Child, dir Gillian Robespierre
Ida, dir Paweł Pawlikowski
Le Week-End, dir Roger Michell
Violette, dir Martin Provost
The One I Love, dir Charlie McDowell
No No:  A Dockumentary, dir Jeff Radice
The Trip to Italy, dir Michael Winterbottom
Gloria, dir Sebastián Lelio

************

Of that list up top, only Ida can hang with the other top older films I have seen so far this year. That "New to Me" list looks like this:

A Nos amours, dir Maurice Pialat (1983)
Zazie dans le métro, dir Louis Malle (1960)
L'argent, dir Robert Bresson (1983)
Pickpocket, dir Bresson (1959)
La Cérémonie dir Claude Chabrol (1995)
Une Affaire de Femmes, dir Chabrol (1990)

************

The four best films I have seen this year are Ida, A Nos amours, La Cérémonie, and Une Affaire de Femmes.

Three are French, one is Polish.  And Sandrine Bonnaire and Isabelle Huppert are in two of those films each.

Still have not seen Conte d'été yet, directed by Eric Rohmer (1996).  That will likely be added to these lists.

Will check back in with you in a few months to update these lists.

Jenny Slate in Obvious Child.  A truly great flick.

Paris

No matter what Joni Mitchell says, I did not see folks kissing on the Main Street.  (I did see an Eastern European twentysomething couple snogging in front of Tour Eiffel one day.)

What I did see a lot of, and it was to beautiful to witness, was that just about every older couple on the streets held hands as they walked down the grand boulevards.  You do not really see a lot of that kind of sweet affection here in Urban or Suburban US of A.

Paris was so wonderful.  When are going back?







Mwah, ... 

First, let me start by saying,

That even though it is likely that I know a heck of a lot more about United Kingdom policies and politics than just about anyone in my immediate circle of friends, that that notwithstanding, the phrase that best sums up my sum total of knowledge of UK policies and politics would be:  I do not know shit about UK policies and politics.  

I think these folks will rue their victory yesterday.

My thoughts on Scotland saying No to independence yesterday are really coming from from my gut, and my realistically modestly cynical view of human nature.

I suspect that the No folks will soon rue this chance that they let slip away.  England, London, and Westminster will not concede anything.  There will be no forgiveness and bonus burgers for Scotland (or Wales, or Northern Ireland.)

I think it is infinitely more likely that England will begin to act cruelly toward Scotland (and Wales, and Northern Ireland) in order to relieve their guilt for centuries of crap.

There will be a good deal more punishment than pleasure for Scotland because of what they did.

I watched the BBC report on CSpan last night, and just about every single Talking Head there was so smug and mean spirited.  They had one Yes pundit on, and he was never allowed to speak, constantly being cut off for returns or the dude next to him interrupting him in dissent.

England got exactly what they wanted, and I figure they are going to find ways to make Scotland pay for their even thinking about leaving the UK.

Just my gut.  Take it for what you will.








mds

Two quick things for folks today:

One,

I am so frickin' torn.  Even though I know it might not be a good idea, at all, part of me would really love to see Scotland stick it to the English, and go out on their own.

Nick C and I even have a great idea for their new currency:  The 'notes' (bills) would be called The Scots Dram.  And their coins would be called Rocks, like the ice in their drams of whiskey.

And, two,

Even though the Wife does not believe me, I have officially suspended my support for the NFL for an indefinite period of time.  We are through.  It is just too much shit to take, and I would not be surprised, or even that upset, if the NFL ceased to exist.  I am done with it.

In my defense, I have quit major sports before.  I quit the NBA nearly ten years ago, and have not watched a single regular season game all the way through since then.  I have seen some Mavericks and Warriors playoffs games, but my interest is pretty weak.  I am barely engaged, and hardly even know the players these days.

As for college football.  Well, if the Sooners sucked, I would probably abandon it, as well.  The Sooners are a weakness I might not be able to defeat.  Maybe the Sooners could win it all this year, start sucking next year, and I could kick American football all together!








--Ardent

Yup! Here is your GOP, hard at work!

Russell Pearce, who has already lost a recall election in Arizona because he is a Supreme Asshat of the very first order (plus there was the usual graft and lying) thinks that any woman who applies for government assistance should be sterilized and tested for drugs.



The asshat resigned yesterday from whatever stupid state GOP job he had.  But, sadly, this is what just about all of these GOP asshats believe, but do not, generally, have the guts (or stupidity) to say out loud.  And, there are probably a fair amount of asshat citizens who agree with Asshat Pearce. (Plus, another one of Asshat Pearce's great ideas was Arizona's "Papers, Please" legislation.  Asshat Pearce hates everyone not white or male, apparently!)



We keep electing these guys!



Get your asses out to the midterms people! Let us take our country forward, and shed ourselves of these ... well, ... asshats!














AZ GOP vice-chair calls for sterilizing poor women: If you want a baby, get a job



Yours,

mds

Nicole Stéphane, Another Woman Michael Loves!

Ms Stéphane was actually a Baroness and a member of the Rothschild banking family.  Her acting CV is not very long, and in one of her finest performances, Le silence de la mer, she does not even say a word.  After a car accident, she retired from acting, and concentrated on writing and theatre and film production.

Nicole Stéphane in Les Enfants terribles

She is best known for Silence, like I mentioned, and her imperious mischievous incestuous truly regal turn in the excellent Jean-Pierre Melville film, Les Enfants terribles.

Stéphane in Le silence de la mer

But what you might not know about her, is that she joined the French Army during WWII, and was captured in the Pyrenées by the Spanish whilst trying to hook up and coordinate with the Free France underground.  

Another awesome fact about Ms Stéphane is that she lived above Susan Sontag in Paris in the early Seventies.  They were lovers for a spell and were off and on artistic collaborators until Nicole's death in 2007.  

Truly, a Woman Michael Loves!

Mwah, ... 

Ida,

Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, is the sort of so special film, that as it unrolls before you, you are occasionally taken out of the picture, desperate to watch the film again, just after it has finished.

And, who the hell is Agata Kulesza? Where did she come from? (Poland, sure.) But, her performance is absolutely to die for.  Every single acting choice she makes as Wanda is inevitable and surprising at the same time.

And the young woman who plays Ida, Agata Trzebuchowska, is breathtakingly impressive, as well.  

This masterpiece of a motion picture was an absolute joy to behold.  Every single set-up for the black and white photography is so thoughtfully and perfectly chosen.  One of the best things the team did was to have many of the close-ups, or two shots with the subject(s) in the bottom right hand corner of the frame, suggesting that what we were seeing was not the entire (big) picture, but a detail, instead.  That there was a whole other truth outside the frame that we are not allowed to see.  That we must decide for ourselves the truth, must decide for ourselves how the puzzle all fits together.

The film is done with such economy, too.  There is not a single superfluous scene.  There is not a single moment that does not impact the viewer, or count.  In fact, some scenes you would expect to see are not there.  Once again, letting the witness flesh out the tale for themselves, making Ida and Wanda's story part of your story, a new unexpected part of you own personal history.

It is stunning.  An amazing masterpiece.  What great work by this team.  All should see this.










mds

London

The fifth series of Downton Abbey debuts in the US in January of 2015.  I already adore the program -- even if sometimes I have issues with it -- but I adore it even more after a visit to Ealing Studios in London in April.



Ealing made some of the greatest films ever, and some of my all-time personal faves.  I have serious crushes on a few of their actresses, too:  Googie Withers, Joan Greenwood, and Valerie Hobson.  Kind Hearts and Coronets, Dead of Night, Pink String and Sealing Wax, Passport to Pimlico, The Ladykillers, It Always Rains on Sunday, The Lavender Hill Mob, etc, are all magnificent motion pictures, made at a tiny studio in the decidedly not posh,  but pleasant London suburb, Ealing.



Ealing ceased as a production company in the Fifties, and sold their sound stages to the BBC.  The Dennis Potter BBC masterpiece, The Singing Detective was shot there.



But, in the Nineties, Ealing became an independent, for hire, studio.  In fact, Shaun of the Dead was shot there.  That is right.  The Winchester was in London!



And, then I found out that Downton Abbey shoots there, as well.



All the "downstairs" servant's rooms, kitchen, etc, is really shot at Ealing.



So, while all the rich posh characters get to shoot at the luxurious manse up north, all the servants are working at Ealing.



I find that hilarious.



Another cool thing about Ealing is that there is a pub, The Red Lion, right across the street, where all the actors, directors, and technicians used to frequent after work.



Oftentimes, the wives of the Ealing folks would call, wondering where their husband was.  The Ealing staff would reply, "He's on Stage Six."



There were only five sound stages at Ealing.  Stage Six was the Red Lion.  The pub even has a nice Stage Six plaque at the entrance now.



And, I have been told that many of Downton Abbey crew and cast frequent the Red Lion, too.





















Mwah, ... 

Before I came to work today,

I watched the first hour of the MGM musical, Meet Me in Las Vegas, on TCM.

Wow.

Meet Me in Las Vegas was made by the Pasternak Unit at MGM, not the Freed Unit.  And not even Cyd Charisse, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis Jr, choreography by Hermes Pan, and a Sinatra cameo can save this turkey.

It is amazing to me just the difference of quality between the Freed and Pasternak Units at the studio for musicals at that time.

For those of you who do not know, the Freed Unit was Arthur Freed, Vincent Minelli, Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly, Comden & Green, etc, ... In movies such as Singin' in the Rain, On the Town,The Band Wagon, An American in Paris, Meet Me in St Louis, etc, ...

It is just not even close.

I am mos def gonna watch the splendid Freed Unit doc, Musicals Great Musicals, tonight.  If you can rustle it up (I got it with My Singin' in the Rain dvd collection), you should watch it too sometime.

Yup, the fauxluxe Summer hiatus is over.  We are back in business!

Mwah, ...