Friday, December 6, 2013

100 favorites, film

Sick?  Snowed in possibly?  Better yet, playing hooky from school or work, or whatever else may stiff ya out of a satisfying dreamlife?  Or just taking it easy.   

I personally like the chilly weather, which affords one the opportunity to do some serious snuggling whether alone or together ... and watch a nice flick.



René Clair / Entr'acte (1924)
Viking Eggeling / Symphonie Diagonale (1924)
Man Ray / Emak-Bakia (1926)
Clarence Brown / Flesh and the Devil (1926)
Buster Keaton / The General (1926)
Dziga Vertov / Chelovek s kinoapparatom, Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
G.W. Pabst / Die Büchse der Pandora, Pandora's Box (1929)
Josef von Sternberg / Der blaue Engel, The Blue Angel (1930)
Charlie Chaplin / City Lights (1931)

Fritz Lang / M (1931)


Jean Vigo / L'Atalante (1934)
Irving Rapper / Now, Voyager (1942)
Howard Hawks / To Have and Have Not (1944)
Akira Kurosawa / Nora inu, Stray Dog (1949)
Jean Genet / Un chant d'amour, A Song of Love (1950)
Isidore Isou / Traité de bave et d'éternité, Venom and Eternity (1951)
Kenji Mizoguchi / Ugetsu (1953)
Nicholas Ray / Johnny Guitar (1954)
Alfred Hitchcock / Rear Window (1954)
Charles Laughton / The Night of the Hunter (1955)


Jules Dassin / Rififi (1955)
Jean-Pierre Melville / Bob le flambeur (1956)
Douglas Sirk / Written on the Wind (1956)
Federico Fellini / Le notti di Cabiria, Nights of Cabiria (1957)
Michelangelo Antonioni / L'avventura (1960)
Claude Chabrol / Les Bonnes Femmes (1960)
Luchino Visconti / Rocco e i suoi fratelli, Rocco and His Brothers (1960)
François Truffaut / Tirez sur le pianiste, Shoot the Piano Player (1960)
Alain Resnais / L'Année dernière à Marienbad, Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
Luis Buñuel / Viridiana (1961)


Chris Marker / La Jetée (1962)
Hiroshi Teshigahara / Suna no onna, Woman in the Dunes (1964)
Ingmar Bergman / Persona (1966)
Věra Chytilová / Sedmikrásky, Daisies (1966)
Jean-Luc Godard / 2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle, 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967)
Sergio Leone / C'era una volta il West, Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Sergei Parajanov / Sayat-Nova, The Color of Pomegranates (1968)
Nagisa Oshima / Shinjuku dorobô nikki, Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1968)
Pier Paolo Pasolini / Teorema (1968)

Vittorio De Sica / Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970)


Barbara Loden / Wanda (1970)
Walerian Borowczyk / Blanche (1971)
Peter Watkins / Punishment Park (1971)
Dušan Makavejev / W.R. - Misterije organizma, W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (1971)
Perry Henzell / The Harder They Come (1972)
Fernando Arrabal / J'irai comme un cheval fou, I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse (1972)
Lina Wertmüller / Mimí metallurgico ferito nell'onore, The Seduction of Mimi (1972)
Kôji Wakamatsu / Tenshi no kôkotsu, Ecstasy of the Angels (1972)
Ted Post / The Baby (1973)
Jean Eustache / La Maman et la Putain, The Mother and the Whore (1973)


René Laloux / La Planète sauvage, Fantastic Planet (1973)
Liliana Cavani / Il Portiere di notte, The Night Porter (1974)
Robert Altman / Nashville (1975)
Andrei Tarkovsky / Zerkalo, The Mirror (1975)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder / Chinesisches Roulette, Chinese Roulette (1976)
John Cassavetes / The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
John Landis / The Blues Brothers (1980)
Stanley Kubrick / The Shining (1980)
Louis Malle / My Dinner with Andre (1981)
Masashi Yamamoto / Yami no kānibaru, Carnival in the Night (1983)


Wim Wenders / Paris, Texas (1984)
Elem Klimov / Idi i smotri, Come and See (1985)
Claude Lanzmann / Shoah (1985)

Jean-Jacques Beineix / 37°2 le matin, Betty Blue (1986)
David Lynch / Blue Velvet (1986)
Jim Jarmusch / Down by Law (1986)
Béla Tarr / Kárhozat, Damnation (1988)
Theo Angelopoulos / Topio stin omichli, Landscape in the Mist (1988)
Ildikó Enyedi / Az én XX. századom, My Twentieth Century (1989) 
Krzysztof Kieślowski / Dekalog, The Decalogue (1989)
* I'm also quite fond of Enyedi's Simon mágus, Simon the Magician (1999).



Jonathan Wacks / Powwow Highway (1989)
Alejandro Jodorowsky / Santa Sangre (1989)
Bae Yong-kyun / Dalmaga dongjjok-euro gan ggadakeun?, Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? (1989)
Rémy Belvaux / C'est arrivé près de chez vous, Man Bites Dog (1992)
Zhang Yimou / Qiū Jú dǎ guān sī, The Story of Qui Ju (1992)
Larry Clark / Kids (1995)
Emir Kusturica / Podzemlje, Underground (1995)
Youssef Chahine / Al-massir, Destiny (1997)
Woody Allen / Deconstructing Harry (1997)
Tony Gatlif / Gadjo Dilo (1997)


Bennett Miller / The Cruise (1998)
Thomas Vinterberg / Festen, The Celebration (1998)
Joan Chen / Tiān Yù, Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl (1998)
Ryuichi Hiroki / Tôkyô gomi onna, Tokyo Trash Baby (2000)
Zacharias Kunuk / Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001)

Adam Ripp / Gang Tapes (2001)
Kim Ki-duk / Nabbeun namja, Bad Guy (2001)
Seijun Suzuki / Pisutoru opera, Pistol Opera (2001)
Kátia Lund, Fernando Meirelles / Cidade de Deus, City of God (2002)
Michael Haneke / Le temps du loup, Time of the Wolf (2003)



Guy Maddin / The Saddest Music in the World (2003)
Lucile Hadžihalilović / Innocence (2004)
David Cronenberg / A History of Violence (2005)
Guillermo del Toro / El laberinto del fauno, Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Tarsem Singh / The Fall (2006)
Esteban Sapir / La antena, The Aerial (2007)
Urszula Antoniak / Nothing Personal (2009)
Jacques Audiard / Un prophète, A Prophet (2009)
Daisuke Miura / Bôizu on za ran, Boys on the Run (2010)
Júlia Murat / Histórias que Só Existem Quando Lembradas, Found Memories (2011)

Thursday, November 28, 2013

bird gifts

Yes, 'tis the season already, but winter holiday shopping is for the birds you say?  Well, birds are a nice idea, but not real birds - leave them alone!  

One way to look at it, blowing money on yourself and loved ones can relieve stress and depression.  

Here are my 12 picks, all doable.  So, spread the wealth.


etsy.com/listing/167273657/tree-of-life-limited-edition-print

Apak (Aaron & Ayumi Piland) limited edition print.  Original painting Tree of Life, 2009.  

Artwork of equal whimsy and wisdom.  The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upanishad timelessly tells us "Da-da-da! (damyata, datta, dayadhvam)  Be self-controlled!  Give!  Be compassionate!"



Most recent edition of John James Audubon's The Birds of America, 1827-1839.



Constantin Brâncuși's Bird in Space, 1923.

A day spent together at the museum, well worth the price of admission.  It's one of the most pleasurable casual adventures.  For me, modern sculpture reached its zenith with Brâncuși.

Also check out Galerie de l'Atelier Brancusi: 
centrepompidou.fr/cpv/ressource.action?param.id=FR_R-b48bd4ab504cd917caf7a9559e7370f5&param.idSource=FR_E-b48bd4ab504cd917caf7a9559e7370f5



Cavallini & Co. notebook set, 2013.



Charles & Ray Eames House Bird, c. 1910.



Max Ernst's Une semaine de bonté, 1934.

I suggest the editions by Gallimard or DuMont Buchverlag, but Dover's is pretty good.  And above all, the Jeanne Bucher original 5 volumes.  



Katsumi Komagata/Christel Sadde Mobile Birds, 2009.

There's also a white version.



Lladró Magic Forest Ring, 2007.

Wearable sculpture in the round ... and not as overburdened as a lot of that haute couture nonsense haha.



MUJI cuckoo clock, 2012.



Anaïs Nin's Little Birds, 1979.

If you've been nice, you can be a li'l naughty.



Music by Bird.

There's a lot of debate about which recordings are best.  Several disc box sets are available.  Also see cmgww.com/music/parker/about/music.html

Another great selection would be any of Olivier Messiaen's oiseaux works, there are several.  Info here: oliviermessiaen.org/messiaen2index.htm


(original source unknown)

A gift that keeps on giving, for life.

Myself, I have an Aztec bird motif on my shoulder.



Decoylab It's My Forest clock, 2010.

An extra item, because it's really neat!

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

check 'em out

I can't help constantly listening to this song ...


UK/European and North American tours: missfrankierose.com


And an oldie but a goodie, the band's still around.


WEEK-END Fest, Stadthalle Köln Mülheim 14.12.2013: weekendfest.de/

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Art Made From Books, paper art





Nice book on the subject.  I also suggest Paper Cutting: Contemporary Artists, Timeless Craft:



One of my book art favorites, Yusuke Oono's 360°Book.  I dislike Disney, but I like the concept and the execution. 



Impressive cast paper sculpture, Prairie Edge Hunt by Allen & Patty Eckman.



A great short.  Animation by Brothers Quay, music by Olga Neuwirth.



SupaKitch & Koralie.  Also see metroplastique.tumblr.com.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Codex Seraphinianus, new edition




Some of you might've ordered it before its release on October 29.  I got my hands on 2 copies of the Deluxe Edition.  This is a reminder to get it while you can.   


Please note: Rizzoli's description states "Deluxe numbered, limited edition of 300 w/signed print" and the edition number's 600, but this is correct.  There are only 300 copies for U.S. distribution.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Lou Reed R.I.P.


Like losing an important piece of poetic truth ...

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Wakefield Press



Marcel Schwob's The Book of Monelle, one of my fondest books, is available from Wakefield Press: wakefieldpress.com/schwob_monelle.html

          

     
  

                                                
                   
        

Other titles in their catalogue, by series:

Imagining Science
Pataphysical Essays, by René Daumal

The Library of Cruelty
The Conductor & Other Tales, by Jean Ferry (forthcoming)
The High Life, by Jean-Pierre Martinet
Lesabendio: An Asteroid Novel, by Paul Scheerbart
The Book of Monelle, by Marcel Schwob

Wakefield Handbooks
Treatise on Elegant Living, by Honoré de Balzac
A Handbook for the Perfect Adventurer, by Pierre Mac Orlan (forthcoming)

Forthcoming
Death to Art and Other Writings, by Vasilisk Gnedov
Pybrac, by Pierre Louÿs

These small, affordable books are indeed elegantly designed.