==pla|\|ing lakes==
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
The new newsletter from HK Flix features the R0 release of Jodorowsky's 2 most famous films El Topo & The Holy Mountain on Euro Cult, for $12.95 each
Can't find any reviews, or a site for the distributor. I'd heard rumors of a new release for them, but I'm not sure these are the ones I read about, e.g., how official they are, the quality of the transfers, etc.
Pretty cheap though.
6:23 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Cached-only article by recently poisoned journalist Alexander Litvinenko (about whom I've posted before) on Putin's little problem [Rigorous Intuition]
8:48 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
R.I.P. Philippe Noiret
I recently saw Coup de torchon (Clean Slate) (1981) for the first time, and the movie and Noiret's performance blew me away. But he appeared in 150 movie and TV roles since a bit part in Gigi (1949), and was beloved by many.
8:30 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
Thursday, November 23, 2006
"Altman thrived on the shapelessness and confusion of experience, and he came closer than any other American filmmaker to replicating it without allowing his films to succumb to chaos. His movies buzz with the dangerous thrill of collaboration - the circling cameras, the improvising actors, the jumping, swirling sound design - even as they seem to arise from a great loneliness, a natural state that reasserts itself once the picture is over." [A O Scott]
R.I.P. Robert Altman
The above link links itself to many tributes.
One measure of an artist's importance is -- whether you liked their work or them personally or not -- whether you can ignore what they accomplished, and their influence on other's work.
You can't talk about films in the last half of the 20th century without acknowledging Altman.
For my money, Nashville, M*A*S*H, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Brewster McCloud, California Split, 3 Women, Vincent & Theo, The Player, Short Cuts & Gosford Park are all essential viewing, fan or not.
Personally, I liked A Perfect Couple, Secret Honor, The Long Goodbye, & A Wedding quite a bit as well.
There are a number of misfires in there, but fewer than say John Huston, I think.
I saw no point to Prairie Home Companion until I heard he'd died.
He will be missed.
5:02 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The new 2-disc MGM edition of Silence of the Lambs will be the definitive edition (includes a "newly remastered" transfer, and DVD Beaver picked the old MGM over the Criterion), though the commentary from the Criterion obviously won't be included
It's pretty loaded with extras though -- with all the old extras (20 mins. of deleted scenes + outtake reel & more) plus new docs and Lecter recipe cards.
11:11 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
This photo of a Bagdad sunset looks remarkably like the poster for a famous movie about a war in another time and place (recently released in a deluxe edition on DVD) which some have mentioned bears a marked resemblance to the Iraq War
In case you're too young to know: go here.
5:49 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
Saturday, November 11, 2006
The "Dean of Science Fiction" passes at 98
R.I.P. Jack Williamson [Gibson]
The Bisbee AZ native attended college in Portales NM and settled there for the rest of his life, graduating from and later teaching at Eastern New Mexico University.
I know I read his work, probably stories more than novels, as a teen but I don't remember which ones now -- obviously he was way old school even in the 60s. He encouraged the young Asimov after reading his first published short story.
He won Hugo & Nebula awards in his nineties, as he continued to write until a year ago.
Williamson coined the term "terraforming" in 1942.
His first book was The Alien Intelligence, published in 1929.
An appreciation by John Clute, and a 1999 interview in which he discusses teaching William Gibson's books in his class.
10:01 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
it's ok kiwi throbheads -- it's not the end of the world
New Zealand students may 'text-speak' in examsThe move has already divided students and educators who fear it could damage the English language.The weird thing is that NZ is actually at the cutting edge of this linguistic mutation being recognized as inevitable: language is a living thing, as Jefferson happily pronounced centuries ago.
New Zealand's Qualifications Authority said Friday that it still strongly discourages students from using anything other than full English, but that credit will be given if the answer "clearly shows the required understanding," even if it contains text-speak.
The authority's deputy chief executive for qualifications, Bali Haque, said students should aim to make their answers as clear as possible.
Confident that those grading papers would understand answers written in text-speak, Haque stressed that in some exams, including English, text abbreviations would be penalized.
Post Primary Teachers' Association President Debbie Te Whaiti said the authority's move reflects the classroom situation.
Teachers would have concerns if text slang became acceptable in everyday written language in classrooms, she said.
Critics said the National Certificate of Educational Achievement or NCEA, the main qualification for high school students, would be degraded by the authority allowing text speak use in exams.
8:50 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
A hardened lava formation which looks remarkably like a perfectly formed boot heel to me may be evidence the moon isn't uh dead, what ever that means in lunar terms [Tip to Weldon!]
8:40 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
Friday, November 10, 2006
R.I.P. Jack Palance
Haven't seen that many of his films, but I recommend Elia Kazan's Panic in the Streets (Palance's first role, and an unusually restrained Richard Widmark playing the good guy for once -- also a pretty good suspenser on its own, and the DVD is a fine Fox transfer), Robert Aldrich's Attack! (an underrated antiwar film with Eddie Albert, Richard Jaeckel & Lee Marvin) and Percy Adlon's Bagdad Cafe (a charmingly weird movie, co-starring CCH Pounder & Marianne Sagebrecht).
His most famous roles were in Playhouse 90: Requiem for a Heavyweight, Shane, Godard's Contempt, The Big Knife (tried to get through it but couldn't), and of course City Slickers.
I'm going to seek out the 1952 noir Sudden Fear, despite the fact that Joan Crawford stars in it -- one of those actors I can barely stand for some reason -- in this case because I can sense her deeply disturbed psyche, I believe. I do like co-star Gloria Grahame though.
10:25 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Bangkok deals with increasing numbers of immigrant workersSome are skilled professionals - mainly from Western countries, Japan, China and India. Given the relatively inexpensive cost of living, they can live at a standard of luxury that is beyond their reach back home.
But the vast majority are from Thailand's poorer neighbours - Burma, Laos and Cambodia.
According to Supang Chantavanich, at the Asian Research Centre for Migration in Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, these migrants are Thailand's "invisible" workforce - the people who build Bangkok's many new skyscrapers as well as cook, clean and work in the fisheries and rubber plantations.
Unlike in the West, where migrants are often accused of taking jobs away from local people or draining the public purse by living off social security, there is a broad recognition that migrant workers in Thailand have an important role to play.
"These people are cheap labour, and a lot of employers see them as very hardworking," said Chris Lom, from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
"There is also very little evidence that they're taking jobs away from Thais, because the jobs they're doing aren't the kind of jobs Thais want anyway."
But despite the evident benefits, migrants can often be the first people blamed when things go wrong.
8:50 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
Sunday, November 05, 2006
The Cotswold Gnomes
Fripp-curated album of outtakes etc by fripp/eno on DGL available for pricey mp3 or flac downloads [enoweb]
free mp3 of 1 track up right now.
6:20 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Experimental music from Australia during the decade after 1982 -- chronicled by NMA Magazine -- is available for free download or CD-R purchase [industrial.org]
11:35 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
How the shadow of Anglo-American oilpyre swallowed the island of Diego Garcia
11:28 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
A Stanley Kubrick project that never made it to the screen -- written by Jim Thompson (The Killers) -- has been unearthed and tweaked for production
11:25 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
2 films that might be worth the expense and trouble of going to a theatre: Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth & Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain
11:22 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
Oaxacan protesters -- and the university rector -- just say no to federal troops
12:07 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
Friday, November 03, 2006
R.I.P. Adrienne Shelley
Never even saw one of her movies (though Factotum is queued up on my netflix list for its release on disc next month), but I know she'll be missed by indie film fans.
11:57 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
some blogs i've found over the years that i haven't visited in a while but still intrigue or entertainThe Shifted Librarianand one i just found:
bifurcated rivets
everlasting blort
all noted at left now.
i'll dig up some more.
11:39 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
whoa!
Half of U.S. runways said to lack safety zone
9:04 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Note new email address for contact above -- old one burned down by spamthrowers
8:35 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
The end of ocean fish by 2050 unless we stop depleting stocks -- assuming the decline in biodiversity hasn't doomed ocean life in general already
6:41 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
R.I.P. Gillo PontecorvoYet it would be his third film, The Battle of Algiers (1966), that would be his lasting contribution to cinema. In both scope, intent and influence, The Battle of Algiers would be a highwater mark in '60s cinema. This realistic look at the Algerian resistance toward the French that eventually led to independence for Algiers in 1962, was shot on location in Casbah. His use of non-professional actors, brilliant black and white photography, and unique viewpoint was a work of profound political impact (particular his tremendous narrative tracking of the reactionary violence from the sides of both the Algerian freedom fighters and French police); The effects of the film are felt to this day. Situation in point - the Pentagon screened the film for military and civilian war planners before the invasion of Iraq in 2003 as a case study.TBOA is one of the essential films, and no less relevant than it was 46 years ago.
I liked Burn! too, but I didn't get through The Wide Blue Road. Ogro might be worth a look.
5:23 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
and s-integrator
@me
Rarely has reality needed so much to be imagined.
--Chris Marker