Category Archives: 1001 things to do before you die

World cinema classis #31

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Gas-s-s-s (1971) – Roger Corman

I’ve talked about my love for “small smart films” and Roger Corman directed and produced lots of this variety.

I was reminded of Gas-s-s-s when I did my unusual westerns post. In a reversal of “sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never harm me” there is a most memorable scene in this countercultural film in which the protagonists participate in a “shoot out” where no bullets are shot as the only ammunition is yelling out the names of famous cowboy actors like Gene Autry, Tom Mix, James Arness, John Wayne and so forth, the more macho the actor, the more likely the kill. “John Wayne!” inevitably administers the coup de grace.

In the particular scene above, books by are used as fire logs. When the girl protests, the man brings in. What? This is Jacqueline Susann and there is more Harold Robbins outside!

Brilliant postmodernism avant la lettre but please proceed with caution if you’re only into ‘serious’ films.

Previous “World Cinema Classics” and in the Wiki format here.

World cinema classics #30

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Lina: I love you!

Le Far West is a 1973 film directed by Jacques Brel. The film was co-written by Paul Andréota and Brel. It has the dubious honor of a 4.0/10 rating on IMDb. As with so many films, it was my father who pointed it out to me when it was shown on television in my early teens. If I remember the plot correctly, a band of drop-outs decides to create a new “far west” in a abandoned mine. Very funny.

Previous “World Cinema Classics” and in the Wiki format here.

Icons of erotic art #10

As we have learnt from the first nine issues in this series, in the nebulous realm of erotic art, uneroticism runs rampant. Not with the photos I am about to present. NSFW, previously unpublished online, here is Unica Zürn photographed by Hans Bellmer [1].

Previous entries in Icons of Erotic Art here, and in a Wiki format here.

Icons of erotic art #9

Princess X, used here on the cover of Peter Webb’s The Erotic Arts (1975).

Constantin Brâncuşi‘s Princess X (1916) [1] is a representation of a phallus, although the artist – similar to a ploy used by Magritte in The Treachery Of Images when he said: “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” – himself always contended that it depicted the “eternal feminine”. Brancusi’s contribution to the Paris Salon des Indépendants of 1920, it provoked a quite a furor and had to be withdrawn following the intervention of the police.

Please excuse the uneroticism of this work, it seems the realm of “erotic art” is littered with unerotics. To make it up to you, let me give you some new Yoshifumi Hayashi from the excellent blog Banana Hole (this NSFW post is ambiguously amusing/disturbing), and a previously published one of the same artist by the ever reliable @mateurdart.

Lastly, some eye candy by Hajime Sawatari here from this series by this blog.

Previous entries in Icons of Erotic Art here, and in a Wiki format here.

World cinema classics #29

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Welcome to Sarajevo (1997) – Michael Winterbottom

I’m not in to war films per se. But Welcome to Sarajevo (especially the first half before they leave Sarajevo) is a clever commentary on the mediatization of war. Watch out for a stellar performance by Woody Harrelson.

In one hour death undoes all.
What price beauty, what price riches?
What price honours, what price nobility?
— Helinand of Froidmont‘s (“Verses of Death“) (1194 -1197)

Previous “World Cinema Classics” and in the Wiki format here.

World music classics #17

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“Je pense a toi” (19__) Amadou & Mariam

Amadou and Mariam are a musical duo from Mali, composed of the couple Mariam Doumbia (vocals) and Amadou Bagayoko (guitar and vocals). The pair, known as “the blind couple from Mali” met at Mali’s Institute for the Young Blind, and found they shared an interest in music. They first came to international attention at the beginning of the 2000s via radio stations such as Radio Nova from Paris.

Please also enjoy “Dimanches a Bamako (c’est le jour du mariage)”, “Sundays at Bamako, (it’s the wedding day)” below.

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuwAzh1b8CA&]

Previous World Music Classics.

World cinema classics #28

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El Topo (1970) – Alejandro Jodorowsky

“El Topo is not a Western, it goes further than any Western … El Topo is not a religious film, it contains all religions … This film is bloody… El Topo is miraculous and terrible … El Topo is monstrous and cruel”

This slightly overrated curio premiered exactly 37 years today at the Elgin, New York.

Previous “World Cinema Classics” and in the Wiki format here.

World cinema classics #27

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Miami Blues (1990) – George Armitage

“With only bottles of spaghetti sauce…”

The main character, Fred Frenger, played by Alec Baldwin, fits the profile of a psychopath. His girlfriend is Jennifer Jason Leigh. Very violent and terribly funny. Based on the novel of the same name by Charles Willeford.

The song in the background is “Spirit in the Sky.” Listen to it here.

Previous “World Cinema Classics” and in the Wiki format here.

World music classics #16

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“Girl You Need A Change Of Mind” (1973) Eddie Kendricks

It would  have been Eddie’s 68th birthday today had he not died 15 years ago. “Girl You Need A Change Of Mind” is an example of what I would call proto-disco.

Proto-disco = disco before the twelve inch, disco avant la lettre.

See previous entries in this series.