Monthly Archives: May 2010
“A rather tawdry device.”
“A rather tawdry device” is how Orson Welles describes “Rosebud” in his Citizen Kane, saying that it’s the part of the film he’s least happy with, and then he refers to it as a “Freudian gag.” This is from Welles’ famous 1960 interview in Paris which was conducted with Bernard Braden, and which I believe just came out on DVD, and is an interesting peak into the filmmaker’s life at that particular moment in time, when he was passionate and still very much immersed in his own powers of making magic. It’s a treat both for completionists and passing film buffs equally. Below is just an excerpt, which I encourage you to check out (as well the interview in it’s entirety which you’ll find linked to above), especially since Welles has some fascinating insights about the films he’s worked on, still working on, the actors he admires, and how Rome, his home at the moment, is being urbanized to the point that it’s starting to feel like “Philadelphia with spaghetti.”
“She has been condemned to death by hanging…”
What did they say the first time they were alone together in the same room? What did he say when she had removed her veil and he could see that she was not a voice but a body and therefore finite? What did she say when she discovered that she had left one locked room for another? They talked of love, naturally, though that did not keep them busy forever.
-just an excerpt from the wonderful “Marrying The Hangman” by Margaret Atwood. Pictures from here and here.
Drops in the ocean.
Let’s start where it ends: A bunch of people on a beach at night. They’re beaten, weary, bruised, battered, and broken down. They’re all exhausted, physically and emotionally, and one of them has a bullet in their shoulder. They’re the survivors and one by one they all surrender to an uncontrollable weeping…
Elsewhere, on a deck there stands a bald man and a hot, if rather filthy looking, confused young woman. They’re staring at the water intently, trying to decipher the drama that lays deep underneath the ripples of their own reflections. The man is grim, determined fury. It’s not over and he begins to depart. The woman, who’s been left behind again, the latest of many such times, asks him where he’s going. “To finish what I started,” he says and then he disappears past us into the dark.
“Hipper than Taebo, sexier than Pilates.”
Man, those Lost withdrawals are killer, aren’t they? Thank God there’s a new episode tonight…
And, so, like yesterday, I had limited internet time today and was just browsing around, trying to get my semi-intellectual whistle just a touch wet when I ended up here and noticed this:
That’s The S Factor: Strip Workouts For Every Woman by Sheila Kelley, an actor and dancer who is currently appearing on Lost in it’s final season as Zoe, the geophysicist/black ops operative…
…and huge fucking nerd.
from here.
Gotta say: Didn’t see that one coming. But good for her. Diversity is never a bad thing, especially when it’s sexy, right?
Says Wikipedia:
Following her role as a stripper in the film Dancing at the Blue Iguana, in which she performed a seductive strip routine, she became a fan of pole dancing. Kelley has since become noted for her ‘S Factor’ national exercise studios and her book S Factor: Strip Workouts for Every Woman and DVDs.
Says Amazon:
Hipper than Taebo, sexier than Pilates, The S Factor–stripping–is the hottest new fitness trend. Created by actress Sheila Kelley (LA Law, Sisters, and a host of film and Broadway roles), S-Factor classes are wildly popular and generating an avalanche of attention from Extra, Entertainment Tonight, The Los Angeles Times, Allure, Us magazine, Fox News, and CBS’s 48 Hours, which proclaimed: “Women don’t even know they’re working out until two months later when they say, ‘I’ve never had a better body in my life. I’m strong, I’m limber, I feel great.’” Sheila even convinced Barbara Walters to try a pole dance on The View.
Kelley is also married to Richard Schiff…
…who played Toby on The West Wing. Don’t forget, people, there’s a new episode of Lost tonight!
Also, speaking of nerdy shit, apparently today is “Star Wars Day.” As in, “May the Fourth be with you.” Jesus. Though, and it’s sad that I know this, but May 25 should probably be the day to celebrate since that was the day that the original film (later re-titled A New Hope) came out. Coincidentally, the finale of Lost airs on May 25 this year. Just saying…
Cartography and topography.
Just some images by artist and cartographer Eduard Imhof , which I found at an interesting site called Sinking Cities (and here), which I discovered via You’ve Escaped (and here) while dicking around on the internet. It’s a nice little site, kind of a simple, soothing chaser to something like BLDGBLOG, perhaps.
“Would you be an outlaw for my love?”
It’s a lazy Sunday, so just for today, a song…
It’s a bit old, I know, having been released as a B-side to “Push It,” but that’s Garbage covering Big Star’s “Thirteen.” First, it’s good to hear anything from Shirley Manson at just about anytime. Secondly, it’s nice to hear a song written by Alex Chilton again. Thirdly! Well, it’s probably fitting since I was talking about another hot Scottish redhead yesterday, and… Fourthly, What I like about this cover is that contrary to the other hundred million cover versions of it, this one doesn’t try to emulate the original exactly. It’s not on acoustic guitar and it feels very much like the slightly spacey, techno dance rock that, powerfully seductive music that Garbage was doing in their career. And what was a simple, lovely little song about young love stays true to it’s core but becomes something slightly more sexy, maybe even a little dirty with Shirley Manson and it’s perfect.
Gravity girls.
Mad linkage:
Congress takes on statehood for Puerto Rico.
The Onion AV Club interviews Russell Hoban.
Brandon Flowers announces solo album.
The picture above is Melvin Sokolsky and can be found here.
The songs that never die.
MGMT “too crazy” for Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3.
The abandoned Spreepark in Berlin.
Christopher Nolan’s next Batman film gets a release date.
The picture below is from a series entitled “Get Back In Your Book” by Lissy Laricchia, and it and more can be found here.
Does something about Winston Churchill annoy the American left?
Fear, crop failures, bee catastrophes.
Is Schrödinger’s Cat alive or dead?
Paradoxes will follow a cute redhead anywhere, anywhen.
No turning back, no way out, and nowhere else to go…
And that’s where we were left with last week’s episode of Doctor Who as the Doctor, Amy, River Song, and Father Octavian and his clerics were surrounded by the advancing Weeping Angels. The cliffhanger was deadly and our characters were down so low that they had only one way left to go… Up.
