Synchronicity and Drs. P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygvkZ35Z0-0

De veerpont (‘Heen en weer…’), one of the better-known songs of Drs. P.

We zijn hier aan de oever van een machtige rivier
De andere oever is daarginds, en deze hier is hier
De oever waar we niet zijn noemen wij de overkant
Die wordt dan deze kant zodra we daar zijn aangeland
En dit heet dan de overkant, onthoudt u dat dus goed
Want dit is van belang als u oversteken moet
Dat zou nog best eens kunnen, want er is hier veel verkeer
En daarom vaar ik steeds maar vice versa heen en weer

English rough translation, see untranslatability

We are here at the shore of a mighty river
The other shore is over there, and this one is over here
The shore where we are not is called the other side
Which will become this side as soon as we land there
And this then we call the other side, please remember well
This is important if you want to cross
And that is very possible, there’s lots of traffic here
And that is why I cross the river vice versa “to and fro”

When I was 23, I spent six months with my wife in Shanghai at Fudan University. Among the numerous great things that happened when I was there was meeting André.

André was one of a kind and we hit it off immediately. He had I believe only just finished high school and was 18 or 19 at the time. He was smart and creative, had theories on dancing (“when I dance, it’s all in the face”) and one on synchronicity which has stayed with me all this time. He was convinced that there was a Chinese equivalent to every American actor, and was thus constantly on the look-out for the Chinese Woody Allen.

Whether he found him or not, I don’t know, and – sadly – I also lost track of André. My wife and I were supposed to stay in Shanghai for a year but we left after six months, just before the Tank Man incident. I was young and when André and I parted ways I did not exchange addresses with him, thinking that if I was supposed to meet him again it would surely happen.

You probably ask yourself, what does this have to do with the Youtube clip above by Drs. P? Well, every country has a couple of artists, musicians or writers which are one-of-a-kind (sui generis). Drs. P is one of those people, he is a genius and cannot be compared to anyone within the Dutchophone area of Europe I live in.

However, I am convinced that every country in the world has its Drs. P. There must be one in Spain, New Zealand or the United States. Drs. P.’s sensibilities (word play, absurdism, playful narrativity, humor) must be synchronously present in every country in the world.

The question is for you dear reader, who is your country’s Drs. P. Or who is your country’s Woody Allen?

World cinema classics #32

Once Were Warriors is 1994 film based on New Zealand author Alan Duff‘s bestselling 1990 first novel of the same name. The film tells the story of an urban Māori family, the Hekes, and their problems with poverty, alcoholism, and domestic violence, mostly brought on by the family patriarch Jake Heke. It was directed by Lee Tamahori, and stars Rena Owen and Temuera Morrison.

Previous in the Wiki format here.

When word becomes flesh or “I don’t know how to kill Harold Crick.”

“I don’t know how to kill Harold Crick.” –Emma Thompson

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

I watched the American film Stranger than Fiction tonight, a good piece of metafiction but not as good in its mix of lightheartedness and tragedy as Waiter by Warmerdam, which premiered a month earlier in 2006.

If you’re into Kaufmanesqueness, Stranger Than Fiction, Waiter and von Trier’s The Boss of It All have been must-see films in 2006/2007.

I mentioned Waiter here and Boss here.

Belgian bloggers #1

Rafaela by carmendevos

I met Rafaela in January 2005. That was before she became SensOtheque. She blogged as Bitterzoet [1], a very personal blog about here sexual encounters, fantasies, likes and dislikes. It featured some of the best writing in the Belgian blogosphere at that moment.Since then, Rafaela has become a name in the world of Belgian erotomania, she launched SensOtheque; a website dedicated to eroticism, was featured in Feeling and De Morgen, and contributed to the most recent issue of TicKL Magazine [2] [3], a Belgian magazine launched by carmendevos [4].

I remember quite clearly what I liked about Rafaela. She managed to physically visualize a space hitherto primarily mental. She fleshed out this pornotopia as Le Château d’O[5].

“The Château d’O features erotically decorated bedrooms with luxury bathrooms, but also houses common lounge spaces with a cinematheque, a print cabinet, a sens’Othèque where one can use sex toys, a well-furnished library and a atmospheric bar and restaurant, a bathhouse with sauna and a BDSM attic.” [6]

Later, after she’d launched the SensOtheque “a guide to refined Literotica, Cinerotica & Bedroom Arts” [7], she incorporated these early comments into her mission statement.

“The sensOtheque is a dream that comes true, an empire of kinky chic, with an air of boudoir romanticism, of the voluptuous and the sumptuous. The sensOtheque represents a passion for far-off, more glorious days: the times of the courtesans and the distinguished geishas, the red velvet atmosphere of The Story of O and Venus in Furs, the decadent world of the 18th century Salons, where women were educated in the field of sexual pleasure.”

TicKL 2 can be ordered here. It includes the only and very short piece of fiction I have ever written, called “Brahms II“, version homme, inspired by Brahms I, by Rafaela.

This post is the first of a new series on blogs from Belgium

World cinema classis #31

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdr_FRp3RWs&]

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.

David Bowie @61

Happy Birthday Mr. Bowie

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueUOTImKp0k&]

Life on Mars (1972) by Bowie

David Bowie was 25 when he made this composition. As with many artists, their most productive and innovative period is between 20 and 30.

I loved the androgynous persona of Amanda Lear-ish Ziggy. I wonder who did the make-up.

Some Amanda Lear androgyny Euro-disco:

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

“Enigma (Give A Bit Of Mmmmh To Me)” (1972) Amanda Lear

Previously on Jahsonic: Seu Jorge, a cover version of “Is there Life on Mars”

82 tracks from 34 of The WIRE’s Top 50 albums from 2007

Listen to 82 tracks from 34 of The WIRE’s Top 50 albums from 2007 at Swen’s blog

The whole list: The WIRE – 50 Records of The Year 2007

The Wire is a British avant garde music magazine. It was founded in 1982 by jazz promoter Anthony Wood and journalist Chrissie Murray, and concentrated on contemporary jazz and improvised music. From about 1990 it branched out into covering left-field rock and “post-rock” (a term coined in the pages of The Wire), hip hop, modern classical, free improvisation and various forms of electronic music.