[<<] December 2005 Jahsonic (01) [>>]
"Method of this work:
literary montage.
I have nothing to say only to show." (Passagenwerk (1927 - 1940) - Walter Benjamin)
2005, Dec 05; 10:21 ::: Catherine et Cie (1975) - Michel Boisrond
Catherine et Cie (1975) - Michel Boisrond [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Michel Boisrond is a French film director born 1921 and died 2002. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Boisrond [Dec 2005]
The film above was his last feature film, it was written by Breillat.
See also: French cinema - Catherine Breillat - Jane Birkin
2005, Dec 04; 22:21 ::: French Cuts 3 (2005) - Various
French Cuts 3 (2005) - Various [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Bienvenu à French Cuts 3
Here we go again - toutes les biens choses sont trois!
It’s been almost three years - high time for another mind boggling addition to the French Cuts series as requested in dozens of letters every week.
Here are some excerpts from one of them: „Hi there at Panatomic ... I copied them for all of my friends ... it’s so easy because there’s no copy protection on your discs ... looking forward to part 3 to earn a little extra money so I can buy more records of my favourite group Aerosmith ...“ - Thanks, Michael!
To our serious Frenchpop lovers:
It was well worth the wait - another diverse collection of musical styles: freakbeat, funky rock, psych-pop, r&b, Brazil and yé-yé. You got your popular heroes, rediscovered lost gems and a few contemporary bands that capture the spirit of the sixties and take it to the present... It’s nice to see that the French music of the period isn’t solely appreciated by a small number of nostalgic nerds but has actually had an impact on contemporary music.
At the moment a promising French documentary called „Bardot A Go Go“ is being made on the subject.
But back to this record: A robot voice (with a French accent!) starts the countdown and the orchestra takes off with a melody that every German who has watched TV in the last 30 years will recognise at once. „Raumpatrouille Orion“ and the „Peter Thomas Sound Orchester“! The instrumental theme of this cult series is widely known - less known the superb vocal version from Swiss singer Virginie Rodin.
How about a Trip to Brazil with Brigitte Bardot: „Tu Veux Ou Tu Veux Pas?“ Her up-tempo interpre-tation of Wilson Simonal’s classic „Ne Ven Que Vao Ten“ is both funky and funny. You might recognise the melody from still another version of this catchy tune, featured in the Brazilian movie „City Of God“.
We continue with an r&b tune by Erick St. Laurent. „Le Temps D’y Penser“ (co-written by Monty) sounds like a faster fuzz-drenched version of „Good Times“ by Nobody’s Children with a Richard Kent styled sound which forces every mod crowd to dance and has been sampled by Blur’s favourite DJ Andy Lewis of Blow Up Club.
Another singer of Swiss origin is Larry Greco (born Roger Dugalier) who started his career as a rock’n’roll singer in 1963 but had switched to r&b by 1965 - as you can clearly hear in „C’est Fini, Bien Fini“.
In the early sixties, France was ruled by a trio of rock’n’roll heroes: Johnny Hallyday, Dick Rivers and Eddy Mitchell (rock’n’roll heroes obviously couldn’t have French names). Eddy Mitchell started in 1959 with a rockabilly band first called Les Fives Rocks and later Les Chaussettes Noires. In 1963 he left the band to record his own songs and also cover versions of classics like Vieille Fille (Spinning Wheel) by Blood Sweat & Tears. Unfortunately, his soul phase wasn’t as commercially successful as was his time as rock’n’roll singer.
Claude Francois, lovingly called „Cloclo“ by his numerous fans, was born in Egypt while his father helped to build the Suez Canal. At age sixteen, he was awarded a gold medal for the 100 meter sprint by president Nasser himself. When the family returned to France, he quickly became a very popular singer and covered several Motown songs. Here he does a much groovier version than the original „I’m Alive“ written and performed by Tommy James and the Shondells (an inspiration for the dancing girls he later had in his shows - the Claudettes). Claude Francois led a turbulent life and died in his bathroom in 1978 of an electric shock.
1968 Pierre Roustang filmed a documentary called „Les Teenagers“ that shows teenagers and their lives in several places all over the world. Thierry Vincent played the piece that accompanies the scenes in Munich - it is called „Munich Party“ and contains lots of the typical handclapping of that time - because Bavarians just clap their hands and the girls go ... the German title „ The Sexual Revolution“ - was probably for commercial purposes...
The next song is a classic - everybody knows Neil Diamond’s „I’m a Believer“ or at least the then more popular version of TV’s first casted beat boy-group The Monkees. Not everybody knows that Erick St. Laurent recorded a French version in 1967: „J’ai cru à mon rève“ (I believed in my dream).
The first contemporary band on this record is called Notre Dame. They are from France and their song is „Sur Ton Respondeur“ (on your answering machine). She’s not there, but he doesn’t give up calling and calling again - did you know that EC’s burocrats are pushing a new law to prosecute stalking at the moment? Freedom seems to have been a short period in the 1960s.
Frank Alamo, who was the son of a big French TV set manufacturer, decided to become a singer against his father’s will. He adopted his stage name from the John Wayne film „Fort Alamo“, was signed by Celebre and Barclay and had a number of hits. The „king of cover versions“, he did „Sweets For My Sweet“ (Biche, ma Biche), „I Wanna Hold Your Hand“ (Je Veux Prendre Ta Main), „The Leader Of The Pack“ (Le Chef De La Bande) and „Happy Together“ (Heureux Tous Les Deux) as featured on our compilation (the song was made famous by The Turtles, but written by Gary Bonner and Alan Gordon, bass player and drummer of the Boston area group The Magicians). After three successful years he turned his back on the music business and became a press photographer.
Born in Viêt-Nam, Eric Charden started out as a folk singer. But after a while he couldn’t resist the possibilities he had with modern pop music: he blended pop, funk and soul and added some groovy strings. The result was „Petite Fille“.
Ooh - lalalalaah!
In the 1950s, there lived a young man in Nice, capital of the Côte d’Azur. His name was Hervé Forneri and when the teenager heard the magic words Coca Cola, Rock’n’Roll and Jukebox, he knew what he wanted to be. He adopted the name of his idol Elvis Presley’s character in the movie „Loving You“ - Dick Rivers - and set out to become a rock’n’roll star with his band, Les Chats Sauvages (The Wild Cats). In the 1960s, he saw the signs of the times and, like many of his colleagues, changed his musical style accordingly. His song „Via Lucifer“ has nothing to do with classic rock’n’roll. On the cover of the 45, his face is printed on a chestnut leaf that coincidentally resembles a marijuana leaf...
The song combines exoticsitar-laden sounds (played by Sullivan, performer of „Hashish Faction“ on French Cuts 1) with distorted guitars and confusing lyrics about a man (the devil) who steals his woman and betrays his friends. Another young man who was born in the land that Dick Rivers admired, Jack Treese, decided one day to go to Paris for a couple of months and ended up staying there for the rest of his life. He learned French quite quickly and recorded his first song called „Je Suis Un Éléphant“, a trippy freakbeat tune with organ, echoes and jungle sounds. The text suggests that he took inspiration from a „French for Children“ book: „I am an elephant, my big ears are flapping in the wind, my trunk tricks everyone... the birds are singing in the trees...
“Good grades in school brought Jacques Bulostin, who was to become Monty later, an invitation to live with an English family in London. There he studied a lot but also went to small jazz clubs and listened to Cliff Richard records. When he returned to France, he had made up his mind: he wanted to be a chanteur! Unfortunately, his father didn’t approve and sent him abroad for a so-called good education. Jacques reluctantly obeyed but started writing and composing songs which he sent around to many record companies. When his chance arrived, he was ready. He was signed by Barclay and recorded several successes in the years to follow. Here we have „Une Fois“, one that he didn’t write himself, but it’s a fabulous cover version of „For your Love“ by the Yardbirds.
Now it gets psychedelic: this kind of music was very underground in France as the conservative government wasn’t exactly keen on the influence anglo-american pop culture had on the French youth. Still, there was a small gallic village... One of the groups that didn’t care were the 5 Gentlemen. They wrote a critical song about the then super-popular model Twiggy: „Little princess in the kingdom of cover girls, but your big sad eyes are crying“. The main message being that all the fame and money in the world can’t help you when you’re lonely...
Now, we are proud to present for the second time (see French Cuts 2) the Munich-based group Phonoboy (who got their name from a small portable plastic record player). They gave us an unreleased version of their hommage to our discotheque „Atomique“ from their highly acclaimed debut album. Like „C’est Ma Vie“ it is a zesty danceable piece with a stomping sixties feel.
Following up is another con(up-)temporary band from France, Les Terribles. According to their short bio, the band consists of one guitar, one organ, one bass, an empty cash box, a few mics, several litres of alcohol, diabolo mints, loads of concerts, a few demos and an album on the Dionisus label. To quote their website: „TO OUR ENGLISH READERS: Story of the group. They got together and then they play music.“ What else do you need to know? It makes you wiggle your foot the minute it starts - try it!
Claude Channes, who contributed a song to Jean-Luc Godard’s film „La Chinoise“ here contributes his tune „Mon Pote Rallo“ to our compilation. His „pal Rallo“ seems to be quite a pain in the ass - pardon my French. He drinks loads of red wine, plays guitar in the subway and basically gets on everybody’s nerves.
Régis Barly complains about the „Faux Beatnick“ (fake beatniks, original ones never use a ‚c’): „you listen to English singers, but you don’t understand a single word. Still, you shout oh yeah!“
In the sixties, she was called „la bombe androgyne“: Dani - singer, actor, model, night club owner and groupie (she went on tour with the Stones, Morrison and Hendrix) - was a sparkling personality of her time (pretty much like Nico of Velvet Underground). She has had several comebacks and is still active today, recording with, e.g., Gonzales and Feist. Her song „H Comme Hippies“ shows the spirit of the post-68 hippie era: „They say you are a florist and you like hippies ... they say you organize get-togethers for hippies and you exclaim „I love you“ - is it true that you have flowers in your heart?...“
Another talented young lady was born in Tunis - a singer, composer and writer of hits for herself and colleagues like Jeane Manson, Michel Fugain and Eric Charden. Her name is Jaqueline Taïeb and she is represented here with one of her favourite songs (as she told us) - „Le Coeur Au Bout Des Doigts“. We owe her a very special thanks, because she gave us addresses and phone numbers of artists we wouldn’t have been able to find on our own. This compilation would not have been the same without her help - thanks Jaqueline, you’re the best!
The next piece was finished just in time for this record: „Blow Up“ by Janea Et Alfa (from Popshoppers) shares not only the title with the famous Antonioni movie. The groovy frenchpop tune deals with a photographer who takes juicy pictures of girls...
One of Jaqueline Taïeb’s friends, Michel Fugain, commenced his solo career in the sixties but his greatest success began in 1972, when he founded a group of 11 musicians, dancers and singers and called them Le Big Bazar. They toured France for four years and were immensely successful. „Allez Bouge-toi“ (come on, move!) is an intoxicating blend of rock, funk and latin elements.
For the second time here, Eric Charden: „Amour Limité Zéro“ is a sad love story „I’m lost without you, I lost myself without you, memories are overwhelming, I’m lost without you...“ Lyrics aside, it is a strong garage track with north-west punk guitar riffs - which means lots of oomph.
Finally, an absolute anthem for both early electronica and French beat lovers to end this trip: the trippy „Psyché Rock“ by Pierre Henry. If you think you’ve heard it before, you’re not altogether wrong; it has been sampled and remixed millions of times, most notably by Fatboy Slim. There is a rumor that Matt Groening wanted „Psyché Rock“ as the theme for his Futurama series. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the rights (we did - he he!) - so he had Christopher Tyng compose a similar tune. Very similar, if you ask me.
So - that’s all for now.
Á bientôt
Martin Hemmel via http://www.panatomic.de/content/releases/fc3/infoe [Nov 2005]Compiled by Martin Hemmel as CD & 2-LP --via http://www.panatomic.de [Dec 2005]
See also: http://www.discogs.com/label/Panatomic [Dec 2005]
2005, Dec 04; 21:21 ::: J'Aime les filles () - Jacques Dutronc
J'Aime les filles () - Jacques Dutronc
Image sourced here.Jacques Dutronc (born April 28, 1943 in Paris) is a French singer, composer, and actor. On March 30, 1981 he married the singer Françoise Hardy, with whom he had already had a son (Thomas Dutronc, born 1973).
Dutronc's early hits were written in collaboration with journalist Jacques Lanzmann. Songs like "Et moi, et moi, et moi," "Les gens sont fous, les temps sont flous" and "J'ai mis un tigre dans ma guitare" have a tight, dry, even tuneless intensity reminiscent of Bob Dylan circa Bringing It All Back Home, mixed with some of the humorous, deadpan affect of The Kinks. Later songs veer more toward jazz and variété française.
Dutronc's "La fille du père Noël" and David Bowie's "Jean Genie" share a riff likely derived from the Yardbirds' accelerated version of Bo Diddley's "I'm a Man." The Belgian singer Arno recorded a medley of the Dutronc and Bowie songs ("Jean Baltazaarr") with the American singer Beverly Jo Scott that makes clear their similarities.
In 1973, Dutronc began a second career as an actor in the film Antoine et Sébastien, directed by Jean-Marie Périer, a career that would afterward occupy the greater share of his attention. Directors for whom he has worked include Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Lelouch and Maurice Pialat.
He is celebrated in the 1997 Cornershop song "Brimful of Asha": "Jacques Dutronc and the Bolan Boogie/The Heavy Hitters and the Chichi music."
He currently lives in the town of Monticello on the island of Corsica. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques Dutronc [Dec 2005]
See also: French pop music list at Amazon
See also: French music - France - music
2005, Dec 04; 21:21 ::: Rapper's Delight (1979) - The Sugarhill Gang
European cover of Rapper's Delight (1979) by The Sugarhill Gangon French label Vogue records
See I am Wonder Mike and I like to say hello
to the black, to the white, the red, and the brown,
the purple and yellow -- Rapper's Delight (1979) by Sugarhill GangDisques Vogue was founded in France in 1947. They originally specialized in jazz recordings, featuring such artists as Sidney Bechet, Django Reinhardt, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, and Errol Garner. In the late 1950s Vogue expanded into pop music, recording Petula Clark and other popular singers of the era.
The label's United Kingdom sister label was Pye Nixa Records. The label's catalog is today part of Sony BMG. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vogue_Records [Dec 2005]
2005, Dec 04; 19:21 ::: Fu Manchu
"The back cover of SCREEN WORLD #28, Fall 1981, which contains the first half of an episode-by-episode narrative of the DRUMS OF FU MANCHU serial. The image is a German poster for installment 2 of the serial." -- Robert E. Briney (Email May 1, 1998
Image sourced here.
2005, Dec 04; 10:21 ::: Yellow peril trope
"The Yellow Terror In All His Glory", 1899 editorial cartoon
Image sourced here. [Dec 2005]See also: yellow - "yellow peril" trope - Asia
2005, Dec 04; 19:21 ::: Romance and the "Yellow Peril": Race, Sex, and Discursive Strategies in Hollywood Fiction (1994) - Gina Marchetti
Romance and the "Yellow Peril": Race, Sex, and Discursive Strategies in Hollywood Fiction (1994) - Gina Marchetti [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Book Description
Hollywood films about Asians and interracial sexuality are the focus of Gina Marchetti's provocative new work. While miscegenation might seem an unlikely theme for Hollywood, Marchetti shows how fantasy-dramas of interracial rape, lynching, tragic love, and model marriage are powerfully evident in American cinema. The author begins with a discussion of D. W. Griffith's Broken Blossoms, then considers later films such as Shanghai Express, Madame Butterfly, and the recurring geisha movies. She also includes some fascinating "forgotten" films that have been overlooked by critics until now. Marchetti brings the theoretical perspective of recent writing on race, ethnicity, and gender to her analyses of film and television and argues persuasively that these media help to perpetuate social and racial inequality in America. Noting how social norms and taboos have been simultaneously set and broken by Hollywood filmmakers, she discusses the "orientalist" tensions underlying the construction of American cultural identity. Her book will be certain to interest readers in film, Asian, women's, and cultural studies.About the Author
Gina Marchetti is Assistant Professor of Film at the University of Maryland. Product DetailsMany of these films linked the yellow peril to white slavery and the various ... --page 3
See also: yellow - Asia - Hollywood
2005, Dec 04; 10:21 ::: The Lady from Shanghai (1948) - Orson Welles
The Lady from Shanghai (1948) - Orson Welles [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Critical reaction
Reviews for the film were mixed when released in the late 1940s. Variety Magazine found the script wordy and notes the "Rambling style used by Orson Welles has occasional flashes of imagination, particularly in the tricky backgrounds he uses to unfold the yarn, but effects, while good on their own, are distracting to the murder plot."Time Out Film Guide review states that Welles simply didn't care enough to make the narrative seamless. "the principal pleasure of The Lady from Shanghai is its tongue-in-cheek approach to story-telling."
--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The Lady from Shanghai [Dec 2005]See also: UK - Australia - history
2005, Dec 04; 10:21 ::: The Fatal Shore : The epic of Australia's founding (1987) - Robert Hughes
The Fatal Shore : The epic of Australia's founding (1987) - Robert Hughes [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Amazon.com
An extraordinary volume--even a masterpiece--about the early history of Australia that reads like the finest of novels. Hughes captures everything in this complex tableau with narrative finesse that drives the reader ever-deeper into specific facts and greater understanding. He presents compassionate understanding of the plights of colonists--both freemen and convicts--and the Aboriginal peoples they displaced. One of the very best works of history I have ever read. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.From Library Journal
For 80 years between 1788 and 1868 England transported its convicts to Australia. This punishment provided the first immigrants and the work force to build the colony. Using diaries, letters, and original sources, Hughes meticulously documents this history. All sides of the story are told: the political and social reasoning behind the Transportation System, the viewpoint of the captains who had the difficult job of governing and developing the colonies, and of course the dilemma of the prisoners. This is a very thorough and accurate history of Australian colonization written by the author of the book and BBC/Time-Life TV series The Shock of the New . A definitive work that is an essential purchase for both public and academic libraries. BOMC and History Book Club main selections. Judith Nixon, Purdue Univ. Libs., W. Lafayette, Ind. --Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.The Fatal Shore, by Robert Hughes, published 1987, is a history of the United Kingdom's settlement of Australia as a penal colony. It won the prestigious WH Smith Literary Award in 1988. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fatal_Shore [Dec 2005]
Robert Hughes is also the author of The Shock of the New: Art and the Century of Change, Thames & Hudson, 1981. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert Hughes
See also: UK - Australia - history
2005, Dec 04; 10:21 ::: Apartment Zero (1988) - Martin Donovan
Apartment Zero (1988) - Martin Donovan [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Amazon.com
A tense psychological thriller, Apartment Zero concerns the intertwining of a loner, film buff Colin Firth (The English Patient) and his new mysterious boarder (Hart Bochner) in present-day Argentina. The new roommate is enigmatic and outgoing, befriending everyone that the poor loner could not. But Firth soon suspects a connection between his boarder's appearance and the reports of bodies in the streets murdered for political reasons.The heart of the film lies in the increasingly bizarre relationship that develops between the two opposites, breeding the seeds of mistrust. An original and offbeat noir-type drama, the film, cowritten by David Koepp (Jurassic Park), proceeds at a slow and deliberate pace, gradually drawing the viewer deeper into the intrigue and isolation of Firth's tortured soul. Some genuinely creepy moments and an all-around macabre mystery make this film worthwhile viewing for mystery fans everywhere. --Robert Lane for Amazon.com
2005, Dec 04; 09:58 ::: Eavesdropping in the Novel from Austen to Proust (2003) - Ann Gaylin
Eavesdropping in the Novel from Austen to Proust (2003) - Ann Gaylin [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Book Description
Eavesdropping in the Novel from Austen to Proust investigates human curiosity and its representation in eavesdropping scenes in nineteenth-century English and French novels. Ann Gaylin argues that eavesdropping dramatises a primal human urge to know and offers a paradigm of narrative transmission and reception of information among characters, narrators and readers. Gaylin sheds light on the social and psychological effects of the nineteenth-century rise of information technology and accelerated flow of information, as manifested in the anxieties about - and delight in - displays of private life and its secrets. Analysing eavesdropping in Austen, Balzac, Collins, Dickens and Proust, Gaylin demonstrates the flexibility of the scene to produce narrative complication or resolution; to foreground questions of gender and narrative agency; to place the debates of privacy and publicity within the literal and metaphoric spaces of the nineteenth-century novel. This innovative study will be of interest to scholars of nineteenth-century English and European literature.First Sentence:
Almost everyone who has read Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights or seen William Wyler's 1939 film version remembers the dramatic scene in which Catherine, unaware of Heathcliff's presence on the other side of the kitchen wall, confides her feelings for him to Nelly. Read the first pageStatistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
illicit listening, covert listening, double entente, eavesdropping scenes, narrative agency, secret listeningCapitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Sir Percival, Count Fosco, Anne Catherick, Marian Halcombe, Elizabeth Bennet, Walter Hartright, Mme Vauquer, Laura Fairlie, Madame Fosco, Captain Harville, Mme Cibot, Valérie Marneffe, Maison Vauquer, Mlle Vinteuil, Anne Elliot, Captain Wentworth, Lady Russell, Mlle Michonneau, Mme de Villeparisis, Miss Bingley, Miss Tox, Jane Austen, Lord Orville, Emma Woodhouse, Mme de Saint-EstèveEavesdropping is the intercepting and reading of messages and conversations by unintended recipients. One who participates in eavesdropping, i.e. someone who secretly listens in on the conversations of others, is called an eavesdropper. The origin of the term is literal, from people who would literally hide out in the eavesdrop of houses to listen in on other people's private conversations.
History
Eavesdropping was already prohibited by ancient Saxon law. From the Saxon custom arose the term eavesdropping, i.e. any one who stands within the eavesdrop of a house, hence one who pries into others business or listens to secrets. At common law an eavesdropper was regarded as a common nuisance, and was presentable at the court leet, and indictable at the sheriffs tour, and punishable by fine and finding sureties for good behaviour. Though the offence of eavesdropping still exists at common law, there is no modern instance of a prosecuti on or indictment.Eavesdropping in fiction
Eavesdropping is something of a clichéd plot device in fiction, allowing the hero or villain to gain vital information by deliberately or accidentally overhearing a conversation. For instance, in "Letting In the Jungle" by Rudyard Kipling, Mowgli overhears the hunter Buldeo telling some men that Mowgli's adopted mother Messua is about to be executed, so Mowgli sets about rescuing her. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eavesdropping [Dec 2005]Eavesdropping is the auditory equivalent of voyeurism. An eavesdropper is an auditory peeping tom.
Introduction
This paper asks: If voyeurism is such a fertile subject for film, to what extent is there an aural equivalent? I propose a possible psychoanalytic basis for considering an erotics of cinematic eavesdropping and suggest that it may be a neglected aspect of the compelling connection between audiences and films. I then turn to the film texts themselves and find that the device of diegetic eavesdropping raises a broad and complex range of moral and narrational as well as psychoanalytic issues.Eavesdropping is a dramatic device of long standing. It goes back at least to Greek drama and is a favorite trope of Elizabethan dramatists. Think of the overheard conversation about a handkerchief in Othello or Polonius behind the arras. In comedy, especially farce, misunderstandings of overheard conversations may be the single most prevalent catalyst for motivating plots. From Plautus to Shakespeare to U.S. television’s Frasier, in its farce mode, aural misperceptions fuel comic complications. The eavesdropping can be more than just a plot device, however; it can have larger implications: incomplete overhearing or misinterpreting what is heard can sometimes be a metaphor for how we misunderstand the world and our relationship to it, just as the nearly blind Mr. Magoo is an animated representation of our inability to recognize and cope with the realities of our physical environment. In films, even more than in plays, the eavesdropping is likely to have reflexive as well as diegetic significance because of our greater identification with screen characters.
Movie eavesdropping raises issues having to do with the nature of the medium itself. For one thing, it can foreground, as does voyeurism, the way in which cinema seems to invade privacy—the way all of film drama feels overheard and spied on. Like voyeurism, eavesdropping can reflexively question our prying relationship to film, our love of listening in, our complicity with the eavesdropper. When we find the eavesdropping to be central to the diegesis, as in Coppola’s The Conversation, the device thematizes these issues. Eavesdropping is inherently cinematic; as I will argue, the situation requires both audio and visual information and therefore perhaps can be most fully exploited on film. --EAVESDROPPING: AN AURAL ANALOGUE OF VOYEURISM? by Elisabeth Weis via http://lavender.fortunecity.com/hawkslane/575/eavesdropping.htm [Dec 2005]
See also: curiosity - literature of the 19th century
2005, Dec 04; 09:34 ::: Red Light Zones : The World's Most Unsavoury Night Spots (2004) - Rik Rawling (Contributor), Martin Jones (Contributor), David Kerekes (Editor)
Red Light Zones : The World's Most Unsavoury Night Spots (2004) - Rik Rawling (Contributor), Martin Jones (Contributor), David Kerekes (Editor) [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Book Description
Loose women and dangerous men; true tales from the darkest corners of the brightest cities. From New York City to the Czech Republic, from Philadelphia to Finland, from intimate stag bars to underage street walkers and subway suicides, these are the compelling first-hand accounts of travelers who have hit upon the weird and the despicable-whether through fault or by design; all have a tale to tell.About the Author
Editor of Headpress and co-author of Killing For Culture and See No Evil, David Kerekes likes old horror comics, in particular he likes Skywald, which he came to understand at an early age were quite unlike anything else in the literary world.See also: David Kerekes - red-light zone
2005, Dec 03; 20:34 ::: Vathek (1786) - William Beckford
Vathek (1786) - William Beckford [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Vathek (alternatively titled Vathek, an Arabian Tale or The History of the Caliph Vathek) is a Gothic novel written by William Thomas Beckford. It was composed in French in 1782, and then translated into English by Reverend Samuel Henley, in which form it was published in 1786.
Vathek capitalised on the 18th century obsession with all things Oriental (see Orientalism), which was inspired by Antoine Galland's translation of The Arabian Nights (itself re-translated, into English, in 1708). Beckford was also influenced by similar works from the French writer Voltaire. His originality lay in combining the popular Oriental elements with the Gothic stylings of Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764). The result stands alongside Walpole's novel and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) in the first rank of early Gothic fiction.
The novel chronicles the fall from power of the Caliph Vathek (a fictionalized version of the historical Al-Wathiq), who renounces Islam and engages with his ally Nouronihar in a series of licentious and deplorable activities designed to gain him supernatural powers. At the end of the novel, instead of attaining these powers, Vathek descends into a hell ruled by the demon Eblis where he is doomed to wander endlessly and speechlessly. Eblis, the architect of Vathek's damnation, was modelled on Iblis or Azazel; Beckford's use of the name is derived from John Milton's Paradise Lost (see Fallen angel). --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vathek [Dec 2005]
See also: 1780s - Gothic novel - Orientalism
2005, Dec 03; 20:34 ::: Oasis of the Zombies (1983) - Jess Franco
Image sourced here.Oasis of the Zombies (1983) - Jess Franco [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Oasis of the Zombies is a 1983 film by cult film director Jesus Franco. The plot involves treasure hunters who track down a lost fortune in Nazi gold in the desert, only to discover that the treasure is still guarded by the soldiers transporting it, who have become zombies. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oasis_of_the_Zombies [Dec 2005]
See also: Jess Franco - zombie
2005, Dec 03; 20:34 ::: Necronomicon Files: The Truth Behind Lovecraft's Legend (2003) - Daniel Harms, John Wisdom, III Gonce
Necronomicon Files: The Truth Behind Lovecraft's Legend (2003) - Daniel Harms, John Wisdom, III Gonce [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
First Sentence:
The Necronomicon has become one of the most controversial books of the 20th century. Read the first pageStatistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
planetary magick, unnamable creature, chaos magicians, medieval grimoires, natural adept, magickal texts, ceremonial magick, magickal book, occult community, chaos magick, amateur press, magickal systems, black magick, sex magick, occult topics, occult scholar, forbidden lore, magickal practices, occult crime, magickal power, destructive cultCapitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Cthulhu Mythos, Aleister Crowley, Abdul Alhazred, Great Old Ones, Kenneth Grant, Miskatonic University, Magickal Childe, August Derleth, The Dunwich Horror, Peter Levenda, Clark Ashton Smith, Ancient Ones, Herman Slater, The Call of Cthulhu, Book of the Dead, Necronomicon Spellbook, Tree of Life, Weird Tales, Elder Gods, Hay Necronomicon, Olaus Wormius, Arkham House, Simon's Necronomicon, David Warner, Joseph CurwenSee also: Necronomicon - H.P. Lovecraft
2005, Dec 03; 17:34 ::: 42nd Street Forever, Vol. 1 (2005) - Various
42nd Street Forever, Vol. 1 (2005) - Various [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
List of trailers:
Wonder Women
Invitation to Ruin
Fighting Mad (Teaser)
Josie's Castle
Salo: 120 Days of Sodom (German theatrical)
Legend of Boggy Creek - 1972
Virgin Witch - 1971
Sins of the Daughter - 1971
House of Missing Girls - 1969
Dixie Dynamite - 1976
Hooker's Revenge/Photographer's Model combo - 1975
Women and Bloody Terror/Night of Bloody Horror - 1972
Savage Sisters - 1974
School Girl Bride - 1970
Tales of the Bizarre - 1970
The Mutations - 1973
Black Christmas - 1974
Food of the Gods - 1976
Devil's Rain - 1975
Chatterbox - 1977
Frenzy of Blood Combo: I Dismember Mama and Blood Spattered Bride - 1974
Carnivorous (AKA Jungle Holocaust) - 1978
Creature With the Blue Hand
Mark of the Witch - Fuji
Freaks - 1932
Crippled Masters - 1980
Mark of the Devil 2 - 1974
Shantytown Honeymoon - 1971
Revenge of Blood Beast
Skidoo
Welcome Home Brother Charles (AKA Soul Vengeance)
The Aroused
Savage Eye
Wild Scene
The Animals
Fighting Mad
Vigilante Force - 1976See also: 42nd Street
2005, Dec 03; 17:34 ::: French Sex Murders (1972) - Ferdinando Merighi
French Sex Murders (1972) - Ferdinando Merighi [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
[O]verall, then, a film that doesn't really live up to its promise. But, then again, could it ever? And isn't this failure in fact the very essence of exploitation cinema – especially exploitation Dick Randall style? Often you look for the moments, rather than the whole, getting just about enough of them here to make it worthwhile…
[T]he centrepiece extra, however, is a new 30 minute documentary on Randall. An enjoyable trip through his career, from his early days as gag writer for Milton Berle in the late 1950s through countless low-budget film productions in Italy, Hong Kong, the UK and elsewhere through the 1960s, 70s and 80s up to his death in 1995. --Keith Brown via http://www.kinocite.co.uk/18/1821.php [Dec 2005]
Dick Randall (1925 - 1996) is an Canadian film writer, producer and actor. He was based in England. --http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0709573/ [Dec 2005]
See also: Keith Brown - Pete Tombs - Giallo film - European exploitation
2005, Dec 03; 17:34 ::: Satanik
Satanik (1968) - Piero Vivarelli [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Satanik film poster
Image sourced here. [Dec 2005]See also: Satanik - Italian exploitation
2005, Dec 03; 17:34 ::: Sadomania : Sinema de Sade (2006) - Jack Hunter, Stephen Barber (Contributor)
Sadomania : Sinema de Sade (2006) - Jack Hunter, Stephen Barber (Contributor) [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Book Description
Sadomania investigates the zone where the Marquis de Sade's life, literature, and legend most closely collide with cinema.Featuring directors such as Luis Bunuel, Jesus Franco, Joe D'Amato, and Pier Paolo Pasolini, and covering genres from horror, sexploitation, and hardcore porn to art house and underground, Sadomania covers a plethora of films that are inspired by the writings or life of de Sade.
Illustrated throughout, Sadomania will appeal to fans of erotic film and literature alike.
About the Author
Jack Hunter is an experet on Japanese culture and author of the Japanese film study "Eros In Hell". his other film books include "moonchild', on the films of Kenneth Anger.Synopsis
First ever book on de Sade and Cinema EXTREME ADULT FILM CULTURE The Marquis de Sade (1740 - 1804) is perhaps the most extreme example of a writer whose actual life history has been inextricably confused with the events and characters depicted in his fiction, resulting in the popular perception of de Sade as some mythic personnification of sexual depravity, cruelty and evil. Sadomania investigates the zone where de Sade's life, literature and legend most closely collide with cinema. Featuring examinations of the films of directors such as Luis Bunuel, Jesus Franco, Joe D'Amato, and Pier Paolo Pasolini, and covering genres from horror, sexploitation and hardcore porn to arthouse and underground, Sadomania covers a plethora of films that are partially or entirely based either on the writings of de Sade, or on de Sade's life, or on some fictional notion of de Sade or his family. Fully illustrated throughout, Sadomania is a comprehensive document of "Sadean" cinema that will appeal to fans of erotic film and literature alike. Covers many different film genres, and directors ranging from Pasolini and Bunuel to Jess Franco and Joe d'Amato; packed with cult movies; Heavily illustrated with rare erotic film stills; Contributors include noted film critics and cultural historians: Stephen Barber, Xavier Mendik, Jack Sargeant...; Number 6 in the acclaimed "Persistence of Vision" series; Jack Hunter is author of many film studies, including: "Eros in Hell", "Moonchild", and "Inside Teradome"; Part of Creation's "Marquis de Sade" season; National press coverage, full online promotion --via Amazon.co.ukSee also: Creation Books - Stephen Barber - Jack Hunter - Sadean cinema - Sadomania
2005, Dec 03; 16:34 ::: Blood Electric: The New Japanese Cyberpunk Classic (2001) - Kenji Siratori
Blood Electric: The New Japanese Cyberpunk Classic (2001) - Kenji Siratori [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Vividly evoking the coming to consciousness of an artificial intelligence, Blood Electric is a devastating loop of language from the Japanese avant-garde which breaks with all existing writing traditions. With unparalleled stylistic terrorism fully embracing the image mayhem of the internet/multimedia/digital age, Kenji Siratori unleashes his first literary Sarin attack.
“Blood Electric is the black reverb of a soft machine seppuku, a molten unspooling of sheet metal entrails and crucified memory banks into the howling void of violence. It is a cyborg crash nightmare of the new flesh, a final despatch from the mutant Hell where the embryo hunts in secret.” -– Jack Hunter (author, Eros in Hell)
“Contemporary Japan is exploding in slow-motion, and Kenji Siratori arranges the blood-and-semen-encrusted debris with the finesse of a berserk Issey Miyake. Rendering English-language cyberpunk instantly redundant with his relentless, murderous prose-drive, Siratori transmits his authentic, category-A hallucinogenic product direct to his reader’s cerebellum. A virulently warped amalgam of Tetsuo and cut-up era William Burroughs.” – Stephen Barber (author, Tokyo Vertigo)
See also: Creation Books Stephen Barber
2005, Dec 03; 13:34 ::: Triumph of Christianity
"Triumph of Christianity" by Tommaso Laureti (1530-1602), ceiling painting in the Sala di Constantino, Vatican Palace. Images like this one celebrate the destruction of ancient pagan culture and the victory of Christianity. See also iconoclasm.
Image sourced here.See also: pagan - Christianity - art - 1500s - Europe
2005, Dec 03; 12:34 ::: Black Death
Illustration of the Black Death from the Toggenburg Bible (1411).
See also: Black Death - 1400s - death - Europe
2005, Dec 02; 20:18 ::: Congo Bill (1948)
Congo Bill (1948)
See also: serial - American cinema - 1948 - adventure film
2005, Dec 01; 23:31 ::: Skull (1924) - Otto Dix
Skull (1924) - Otto Dix
Image sourced here.See also:
Antidepressants... 'recruit' depressives, and do so because they work. Each new one must first go through controlled trials intended to prove that it is more effective than a placebo and competitor drugs. In order to pass these tests, the proposed medication must yield results significantly better than previous drugs among a group of patients who have been selected because they present a pathology likely to respond to it. ... Each new molecule, if it is effective, creates a new group of patients, defined by the effects it produces: depressives needing stimulation, depressives needing to be tranquillised, anxious depressives, aggressive depressives etc. The new pathologies then spread throughout society as the drug penetrates the market and recruits (regroups) ever-increasing numbers of 'clients'. --http://sauer-thompson.com/conversations/archives/2005/11/antidepressants.html [Dec 2005]See also: depression - Otto Dix - death - German art - 1924 - art
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