Category Archives: Uncategorized

Madonna vs Thatcher

Reginald D. Hunter stand-up routine:

Reginald: “Of all the female icons women are encouraged to reach for almost none of them reach for Thatcher.”

“I mean hell, they almost all reach for Madonna before they reach for Thatcher,”

Woman: “Well, absolutely. Madonna broke that glass ceiling that had been oppressing women for decades. Madonna showed women they could be sexy, healthy and vital well into their forties and fifties, she showed women that they could and should be smart business people.”

Reginald: “Some of that’s true, but how about this? Thatcher reached all the way to the top in the most male-dominated profession in the world and she didn’t shake her ass one time. She didn’t shake her ass, she didn’t undo her cleavage before she went into a meeting with the boys and she didn’t suck a dick to jump the queue, she was true to game.”

John Cage is the new Alphonse Allais

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yybn6iKmYdQ

While I was listening to Late Night Lab by Bart Vanhoudt, Bart posted his show on Facebook, I pressed the play button and heard “these sounds are in no sense accidental” like I always do, since it is the intro of the programme.

This phrase comes from the interviewer of the popular TV show I’ve Got a Secret who announces “Water Walk” (January, 1960), the title of a performance by John Cage.

This performance is, in a way, more important than  “4′33″.

“4’33″” was about high art.

“Water Walk” is nobrow.

Sorrentino is the new Fellini

Just saw Youth. Paolo Sorrentino is the new Fellini, albeit a much more likable one. I’ve always found the films of Fellini a bit pretentious and theatrical (see for example’s Fellini’s contribution to Boccaccio ’70, “The Temptations of Doctor Antonio”).

Not so with Sorrentino. This is what I want from cinema. Reveries and emotions. A mix of high and low culture. Laughter and tears. Lots of philosophy. And buckets of beauty.

P.S.: I recently saw another film on old age, by Haneke, Amour. How I hated that film, despite that Haneke has made some of the best films of the 2000s.

Chantal Akerman (1950 – 2015)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx2RNzl-p3Q

Chantal Akerman‘s debut film “Saute ma ville” (1968, above) turned out to be quite prophetic. Akerman committed suicide last week. Suicide continues to fascinate me. Sometimes, I get a strange feeling of comfort when yet another person commits suicide. It reminds me that I am not doing that badly. I may, at times, be unhappy, but not that unhappy.

There’s no doubt that some of the images are quite disturbing …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Irlpvtwu1Rs&

The Secret World of Lewis Carroll

The “disturbing images” in question are photos taken by Lewis Carroll. Click [1] to see them in book format.

The Secret World of Lewis Carroll uncovered a photo of Lorina Liddell[2] in the archives of the Musée Cantini.

As you can see above, the photo in the BBC programme only uses the top half of Lorina.

Click here[3] for the whole picture.

The photo sheds new light on the “was Lewis Carroll a pedophile” question.

Forest Xylophone (2011)

Forest Xylophone is a giant musical instrument built for a 2011 commercial for a cellphone with a wooden casing. The xylophone is operated by a simple wooden ball and plays Bach’s “Cantata 147”.

The contraption and the music it produces are both extremely likable.

It is reminiscent of The Way Things Go (1987) by Fischli and Weiss which I elected World Art Classic #463[1] last year.

I wonder if it’s still there? Anyone?