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On Expo - Film - In concert


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"Method of this work:
literary montage.
I have nothing to say only to show."
(Passagenwerk (1927 - 1940) - Walter Benjamin)

The "rhizome" allows for multiple,
non-hierarchical entry and exit points
in data representation and interpretation.
--Mille Plateaux - Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari,
volume 2 of Capitalisme et Schizofrénie (1980)

2005, Mar 17; 10:44 ::: The Politics and Poetics of Transgression (1986) - Peter Stallybrass, Allon White

The Politics and Poetics of Transgression (1986) - Peter Stallybrass, Allon White [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

In 1896, with The Devil Castle, Georges Melies introduced the world to vampire films. Since then, the vampire movie has become a mainstay of popular horror. According to John L. Flynn, Brain Stoker's Dracula has been adapted for the screen more often than any other book, while the word vampire has appeared 1046 times in film titles. One reason behind this remarkable popularity is the close association between vampirism and eroticism that cinema has explored and exploited to increasing degrees over the years. These films have frequently presented various taboo aspects of sexuality; from sadomasochism to dominance and submission to homoeroticism. The settings of horror and fantasy are used to showcase the titillation of these forbidden topics. Over the years the explicitness of these representations have been molded by the changing standards of censorship. --William Meyer via For the Purity of Our Precious Bodily Fluids: an Essay on Eroticism in Vampire Films, http://pages.emerson.edu/organizations/fas/latent_image/issues/2000-04/vampire.htm [Mar 2005]

Another pertinent point is portrayals of the body in vampire films. In their book, The Politics and Poetics of Transgression, Peter Stallybrass and Allon White write a great deal about representations of the body. Citing Bakhtin, they discuss the difference between the body as represented in popular festivals (low culture) and classic statuary (high culture). The high culture body "has no openings or orifices whereas grotesque costumes and masks emphasize the gaping mouth, the protuberant belly and buttocks, the feet and the genitals (Stallybrass and White, 22). The classical body is a perfect closed system, unsullied by the world around it. It is pure and self-contained, whereas the grotesque body with its various orifices and protrusions is constantly excreting or consuming. --William Meyer via For the Purity of Our Precious Bodily Fluids: an Essay on Eroticism in Vampire Films, http://pages.emerson.edu/organizations/fas/latent_image/issues/2000-04/vampire.htm [Mar 2005]

As Peter Stallybrass and Allon White affirm in THE POLITICS AND POETICS OF TRANSGRESSION, "disgust always bears the imprint of desire" (201) --http://sites.uol.com.br/formattoso/pornography.htm

inspired by: Connie Shortes

see also: transgression - politics - poetics -

2005, Mar 17; 10:35 ::: Sexual Dissidence: Augustine to Wilde, Freud to Foucault (1991) - Jonathan Dollimore

Sexual Dissidence: Augustine to Wilde, Freud to Foucault (1991) - Jonathan Dollimore [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

First sentence
"In Blidah, Algeria in January 1895 Andre Gide is in the hall of a hotel, about to leave..."

Product Description:
Why is homosexuality socially marginal yet symbolically central? Why is it so strangely integral to the very societies which obsessively denounce it, and why is it history--history rather than human nature--that has produced this paradoxical position? These are just some of the questions explored in Sexual Dissidence.

Written by a leading critic in gender studies, this wide-ranging study returns to the early modern period in order to focus, question, and develop issues of postmodernity, and in the process brilliantly link writers as diverse as Shakespeare, Andre Gide, Oscar Wilde, and Jean Genet, and cultural critics as different as St. Augustine, Frantz Fanon, and Michel Foucault. In so doing, Dollimore discovers that Freud's theory of perversion is more challenging than either his critics or his advocates usually allow, especially when approached via the earlier period's archetypal perverts, the religious heretic and the wayward woman, Satan and Eve.

A path-breaking book in a rapidly expanding field of literary and cultural study, Sexual Dissidence shows how the literature, histories, and subcultures of sexual and gender dissidence prove remarkably illuminating for current debates in literary theory, psychoanalysis, and cultural materialism. It includes chapters on transgression and its containment, contemporary theories of sexual difference, homophobia, the gay sensibility, transvestite literature in the culture and theatre of Renaissance England, homosexuality, and race. --via Amazon.com

inspired by: Connie Shortes

Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
tragic ontology, transgressive aesthetic, privative theory, aberrant movement, sexual difference theory, liberated desire, internal deviation, civilized sexual morality, nature erring, homosexual sensibility, containment theory, psychoanalytic project, polymorphous perverse, masculine honour, subjective depth, reverse discourse, sexual nonconformity, depth model, transgressive desire, gay sensibility, female transvestite, repressed homosexuality

see also: opposition - sex - Oscar Wilde - Sigmund Freud - Michel Foucault

2005, Mar 17; 09:39 ::: James Whale (1889 - 1957)

Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester in James Whale's 1935 The Bride of Frankenstein
[Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

James Whale (July 22, 1889 - May 29, 1957) was a Hollywood film director, best known for his work in the horror genre, making such momentous and iconic pictures as Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and The Invisible Man.

Despite being forced into maintaining certain levels of secrecy during his own lifetime, Whale's homosexuality is now synonymous with his name. Many suggest that there are homosexual themes and discourses in his motion pictures and as a result his biographies are considered noteworthy in gay and lesbian studies. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Whale [Mar 2005]

see also: Frankenstein - homosexuality - horror film - queer horror - queer film - film

2005, Mar 16; 15:44 ::: Pornography and Sexual Representation: A Reference Guide (2000) - Joseph W. Slade

Pornography and Sexual Representation: A Reference Guide (2000) - Joseph W. Slade [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

1264 pages, list price $356.95

Product Description:
For better or worse, pornography and sexual representation suffuse American culture. This first comprehensive guide to the literature includes the history of pornography in the United States and discusses pornography in a vast range of media. Volume one opens with a discussion of the history of American pornography. Two separate sections present information regarding bibliographies and reference tools concerning pornography and reviews of references devoted to the histories of sexuality and its representations and theoretical works on erotica and pornography. One chapter is devoted to a discussion of major research collections. Also included are a chronology of important dates in the history of American pornography and a discussion of child pornography. Volume two focuses on dramatic, visual, and electronic media and is arranged by topic. Chapters discuss the landscape of the body, performance, erotic and pornographic art, erotic and pornographic photography, motion pictures and videotapes, and electronic media. Volume three focuses on oral, print, and journalistic media and includes folklore and oral genres, erotic literature, newspapers, magazines and advertising, and comics. The volume concludes with a section concerning research and policy regarding medical and social sciences, the law in the United States, and the economics of pornography. --via Amazon.com

2005, Mar 16; 15:19 ::: S/M pornography (1998) - Connie Shortes

The Story of O (1975) - Just Jaeckin [Amazon.com]

Sadomasochism is a complex concept that may be understood in several different ways: an unavoidable social phenomenon inherent in hierarchically organized political, institutional, and familial structures; an unacknowledged, and therefore unhealthy, dynamic between two individuals; or a personal pathology resulting in sexual and social deviance. The term S/M, however, most often invokes a fantastic, erotically charged tableau in which the dynamics of dominance and submission are performed, often including the leather- or latex-clad dominatrix, whips, chains, medieval torture devices, and dark, Gothic-style dungeons - that is, a specific kind of pornography or erotica.

S/M pornography has been one of the primary objects of attention and concern in substantially all political, legal, scientific, and social discourses on the subject of pornography, particularly since theatrical exhibition of "hard-core" films began to flourish in the early 1970s. Given that representations of S/M in pornography fall, for indexical purposes, within a territory that is difficult to defend (or even rationally discuss), it is not surprising that very little scholarship exists on the subject. Besides Joseph Slade's content analysis of the Kinsey Institute's collection, in which he concluded that violence has always been present in pornography but only in a very small percentage of the overall output, Linda Williams has probably done more than any other scholar to distinguish and bring understanding to this particular category of commercially produced pornography. She devoted a chapter to the subject in her book Hard Core, which attempted to re-examine some of the most controversial films - those which depict women in positions of submission - positing that the sexual desires they depict are not necessarily organized around the phallus, the Oedipal complex, and the pleasures of the sadistic male voyeur. In subsequent articles Williams speculated as to what a different, less ideologically rigid understanding of S/M pornography might contribute to theories of sexuality that would more effectively acknowledge the complex workings of power and the role of fantasy than do those forwarded in feminist analyses. --"Cleaning up a sewer": the containment of S/M pornography - sadomasochism - The Shows of Violence, Journal of Popular Film and Television, Summer, 1998 by Connie Shortes via http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0412/is_n2_v26/ai_21221636/pg_1 [Mar 2005]

2005, Mar 16; 15:19 ::: Sade-related images at marchese-desade.org

Illustration (1930-1931) - Max von Szczygielski-Rogala
image sourced here.

More D.A.F. de Sade-related images via the same site here.

2005, Mar 16; 13:48 ::: Italian Horror Film Directors (2004) - Louis Paul

Italian Horror Film Directors (2004) - Jess Franco (Foreword), Antonella Fulci (Foreword), Louis Paul [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

About the Author
Louis Paul has written for such magazines as Chiller Theatre Magazine and European Trash Cinema and is the coauthor of Film Fatales (2002, with Tom Lisanti). He lives in New York.

Product Description:
There is no cinema with such effect as that of the hallucinatory horror of Italian horror films. From Riccardo Freda’s I Vampiri in 1956 to Il Cartaio in 2004 (The Card Player), this work recounts the origins of the genre, celebrates ten auteurs who have contributed to Italian horror, mentions the many who have made noteworthy films, and discusses the influential genres associated with Italian horror.

The directors discussed in detail are Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava, Mario Bava, Ruggero Deodata, Lucio Fulci, Umberto Lenzi, Antonia Margheriti, Aristide Massaccesi, Bruno Mattei, and Michele Soavi. Each section includes a short biography, a detailed account of the subject’s career, discussion of influences both literary and cinematic, commentary on the films, with plots and production details, and an exhaustive filmography. The second section lists other important directors, each with a short discussion and selected filmography. The work concludes with a chapter on the future of Italian horror and an appendix of important horror films by other directors, and is illustrated with stills, posters, and behind-the-scenes shots. --via Amazon.com

see also: Italian horror

2005, Mar 16; 13:21 ::: Drug movies

Scene from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) - Terry Gilliam [Amazon.com]

Drug movies are films that depict drug usage, either as a major theme or, less often, as a few memorable scenes. There is extensive overlap with crime movies, which are more likely to treat drugs as plot devices to keep the action moving. Drug cinema ranges from the ultra-realistic to the utterly surreal; some movies are unabashedly pro- or anti-drug, while others are less judgmental.

The drugs most commonly shown in films are marijuana, heroin, cocaine, LSD and methamphetamines. The following is a partial list of drug movies and the substance involved.

  • 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). None, but the final scene has been hailed as one of the greatest cinematic depictions of a drug trip.
  • 28 Days (2000). Painkillers.
  • Altered States (1980). Fictional version of peyote.
  • American Beauty (1999). Marijuana.
  • Around the Fire (1999). Marijuana and LSD.
  • Avenging Disco Godfather (1979). PCP.
  • The Basketball Diaries (1995). Heroin.
  • Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996). Stimulants and peyote.
  • Boogie Nights (1997). Cocaine.
  • Blow (2001). Cocaine.
  • Blue Velvet (1986). Nitrous oxide.
  • The Breakfast Club (1985). Marijuana.
  • Cheech & Chong's various movies: Up In Smoke (1978); Nice Dreams (1981); Still Smokin' (1983); etc. Marijuana.
  • Clean and Sober (1988). Cocaine.
  • Crooklyn (1994). Glue.
  • Dazed and Confused (1993). Marijuana.
  • Dick (1999). Marijuana.
  • The Doors (1991). LSD and other drugs.
  • Drugstore Cowboy (1989). Heroin.
  • Easy Rider (1969). Marijuana and LSD.
  • Empire Records (1995). Marijuana and methamphetamines.
  • Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). LSD and other drugs.
  • Friday (1995); Next Friday (2000); Friday After Next (2002). Marijuana.
  • Grass (1999). Marijuana.
  • Go (1999). MDMA.
  • Gummo (1997). Glue.
  • Half Baked (1998). Marijuana.
  • Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004). Marijuana.
  • How High (2001). Marijuana.
  • Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). None, but the pod people are blatant symbols for the corrupting influences of communism and marijuana.
  • Kids (1995). Marijuana.
  • The Last Minute (2001). Heroin.
  • Less Than Zero (1987). Cocaine.
  • Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). Marijuana.
  • Love Liza (2002). Gasoline fumes.
  • Maria Full of Grace (2004). Heroin.
  • Midnight Express (1974). Hashish.
  • Naked Lunch (1991). Fictional version of heroin.
  • Performance (1970). LSD.
  • Permanent Midnight (1998). Heroin.
  • Psych-Out (1968). LSD.
  • Pulp Fiction (1994). Cocaine and heroin.
  • Reefer Madness (1936). Marijuana.
  • Requiem for a Dream (2000). Heroin and prescription diet pills.
  • Rush (1991). Heroin.
  • The Salton Sea (2002). Methamphetamines.
  • Saving Grace (2000). Marijuana.
  • Scarface (1983). Cocaine.
  • SLC Punk! (1999). LSD.
  • Spun (2002). Methamphetamines.
  • Thirteen (2003) Solvents and various.
  • Traffic (2000). Cocaine and heroin.
  • Trainspotting (1996). Heroin.
  • True Romance (1993). Cocaine.
  • Yellow Submarine (1968). None, but LSD is implied by the song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."
--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_movies [Mar 2005]

see also: drug movies

2005, Mar 16; 11:58 ::: Pornographic film index

Linda Lovelace, Deep Throat (1972) - Gerard Damiano

Related: age: 18 - blue movie - erotic film - hardcore - porno chic - porn star - simulated - sex education - sexploitation film - sex report film - snuff film - softcore - stag film - vintage porn film - white coaters - x-rated

Titles: Cafe Flesh (1982) - Deep Throat (1972) - Story of O (1975) - The Image (1975) - Inserts (1975) - Kärlekens språk (1969) - Liquid Sky (1982) - Le Sexe qui parle/Pussy Talk (1975)

Directors: Mac Ahlberg - Jose Benazeraf - Walerian Borowczyk - Tinto Brass - Lasse Braun - Catherine Breillat - Larry Clark - Joe D'Amato - Gerard Damiano - Alex deRenzy - Rinse Dream - Jess Franco - Hofbauer - Just Jaeckin - Francis Leroi - Bigas Luna - Russ Meyer - Radley Metzger - Claude Mulot - Max Pecas - Jean Rollin - Joe Sarno -

By region: European pornography - North American pornography

2005, Mar 16; 11:24 ::: Alex de Renzy (1935 - 2001)

lobby card for Pretty Peaches (1978) - Alex deRenzy
image sourced here.

A saucy little peach of a film
Pretty Peaches is difficult if not impossible to find in a British video shop. New video censorship legislation in the mid-80s saw to that. It goes further than most adult films of the period in pushing out the boundaries. After 1984 it was beyond the boundary.

You don't often hear of a film featuring explicit treatment of enemas. Pretty Peaches did. Every other scene in the film, mandatory orgy included, fades from the memory long before that particular episode dims. The plot is of course secondary to the main action, but the story of the girl who suffers amnesia following a road accident is novel and also helps to make this a cut above the ordinary. See it if you get the chance. --Koli via http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078112/combined [Mar 2005]

Promotional material for Femmes de Sade (1976) - Alex deRenzy
image sourced here.

Sick, sick, sick.... I love it!
Alex De Renzy was one of only a handful of porn directors that were gifted enough to have their own visual style, something that sadly, dissapeared in his later work once hardcore features began to be shot on video. Femmes de Sade, in it's uncut form (Tough to find) is one of my favorite 70's XXX films. It's just so messed up and vile! A huge deranged pervert gets out of jail and bums a ride with a fellow inmate who has also been released, and has been picked up by his girlfriend. Needless to say, it does not end up nicely for her. I don't want to give up too much about the film in case you actually ever get to see it, but the scene where the gigantic sex-freak sucks his own wang, and then tries to force an unwilling female to give herself oral sex is one of the most unnerving scenes in adult film history. Alex De Renzy, you will be missed. --Robin Bougie via http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074523/combined [Mar 2005]

I broke into porn director Alex deRenzy's home in 1974.

Actually, it wasn't a breaking-and-entering affair. I snuck into his house. I was only 13 years old—yet, by all standards, a little shit. My folks lived in the ever-dull city of San Rafael; so, to bust up the monotony, my pal Derek and I would do 'amusing' things—like pissing into the liquid-soap dispensers of posh banks. Or going to the top of the tallest building in town and throwing day-old donuts down at pedestrians.

And there was the little prank we pulled on deRenzy. A mini terrorist act was more like it.

The infamous porn director—who died this past June—lived in a secluded mansion on the hill just behind my parents' modest home. Not bad, eh? Lots of adventurous possibilities for a restless—and horny!—13-year-old.

By 1974, of course, deRenzy hadn't yet made the X-rated classics like Pretty Peaches, Femmes deSade, and Baby Face for which he'd become best known. But he had made a name for himself, as a local S.F. pornographer and the director of a well-publicized documentary (Time magazine did an article on the movie) entitled Pornography in Denmark. Yet while I lived close by deRenzy, I'd never actually seen the very private director. Consequently, I craved a taste, a mere glimpse of this pornographer's supposedly unorthodox lifestyle. --Anthony Petkovich via http://www.spectator.net/1194/pages/1194_derenzy.html [Mar 2005]

2005, Mar 16; 10:02 ::: Inserts (1975) - John Byrum

Inserts (1975) - John Byrum

The 1975 movie Inserts about a pornographic film production, which starred Richard Dreyfuss and was originally released with an X rating, took its name from this film technique. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inserts [Mar 2005]

See also: film technique - Inserts (1975) - John Byrum - vintage erotica - pornographic film - stag film - blue movie - erotic film

2005, Mar 16; 09:32 ::: Vintage Erotica Collection (2004) - Ryko studios

Vintage Erotica Collection (2004) - Ryko studios [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

See also: vintage erotica - pornographic film - stag film - blue movie - erotic film

2005, Mar 16; 09:29 ::: Anthology of Erotic Cinema the 1930's (2005) - C.A.V. Distribution

Anthology of Erotic Cinema the 1930's (2005) - C.A.V. Distribution [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

2005, Mar 16; 09:26 ::: Classic Erotica Collection - Forbidden Movies from the Brothels of Paris (2004) - C.A.V. Distribution

Classic Erotica Collection - Forbidden Movies from the Brothels of Paris (2004) - C.A.V. Distribution [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

2005, Mar 16; 09:23 ::: Taboo: Beginning of Erotic Cinema (2004) - Koch Vision Entertainment

Taboo: Beginning of Erotic Cinema (2004) - Koch Vision Entertainment [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

2005, Mar 16; 09:09 ::: The Good Old Naughty Days (Polissons et Galipettes) (2002) - Michel Reilhac

The Good Old Naughty Days (Polissons et Galipettes) (2002) - Michel Reilhac [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

Description
This astonishing, scintillating collection from the silent era, most of which are from the 1920s, are genuine, legitimate and by today's hardcore standards, amazingly charming, pornographic short films that leave nothing to the imagination. From predictable fantasy scenarios - monk spies on, then joins naughty nuns; teacher must spank naughty schoolgirls - to more esoteric fare (homosexuality and animal ecstasy, to name just two), vintage porn has never been more accessible...or attainable. The 12 shorts in The Good Old Naughty Days were primarily designed to be shown in the waiting rooms of brothels, amusing patrons - and no doubt giving them some ideas - as they awaited their girl. They also reveal production standards far in advance of comparable films being made elsewhere at the time, as well as an inventive and often humorous array of diverse couplings. These films were usually created in a haphazard fashion in an afternoon with friends and local prostitutes lending a hand for a few cents. All of them requested to remain anonymous, which makes it impossible to identify who really acted or directed them. For this reason, it is rather delightful to watch these "actors" often having to readjust their wigs and fake moustaches in the middle of their scenes so as not to be recognized unmasked. It is nevertheless touching to see how fresh and naïve these films look in comparison with today's X-rated film productions. Considering the age of these films, it is miraculous that they have been rediscovered and restored. These films are a part of our heritage and certainly a part of the secret history of cinema. In their own amusing way, these images involve us in a very direct, physical and intimate relationship with the good old days. These films have been restored by the Archives of the Centre National de la Cinématographie (The National Center for Cinematography in France). "THE GOOD OLD NAUGHTY DAYS" was produced, directed and compiled by Michel Reilhac. Silent and Black & White . via Amazon.com

In true genre fashion, this silent-era porno compilation leaves something to be desired. Likely the first theatrically distributed vintage hardcore collection since Alex de Renzy's A History of the Blue Movie (1970), Naughty Days has several advantages over its free-love-era ancestor. Whereas Blue Movie compiled poorly printed, now familiar American loops, Naughty Days beautifully restores rare French flicks of the anything-goes 1920s. The production values outstrip their Yankee counterparts, with expressive, professional lighting, elaborate indoor sets, and expensive-looking costumes. Setups include naughty nuns in soixante-neuf with buggering abbots, a Musketeer frigging a milkmaid, and an orientalist Madame Butterfly parody. The pickles-and-beaver shots found in cheaper films are absent, though surprisingly raunchy bits occur, some with animals. But given the substantial scholarly interest, the winking intertitles are disappointing. Only the tiniest bit of historical background is given about the films' provenance, padded out with corny, badly translated jokes. An American production, the animated Eveready, is tacked onto the end without explanation. Still, erotophiles should appreciate this peek into yet another period when French meant freedom. —Ed Halter, http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0313,tracking,42838,20.html [Mar 2005]

2005, Mar 15; 17:59 ::: Cary Loren's cinematic influences

Question: What are some of your favorite filmmakers and films? (Both underground and aboveground, as applicable.)

Cary Loren: I’ll try and do this briefly, but there is so much.... first, the great silent films: Ben Hur, Broken Blossoms, Greed, The Wedding March, Merry Widow -- everything Von Stroheim did -- he’s the shits, the deep devil-god of film -- just beautiful mad visions -- Melies is great, a tremendous innovator right at the beginning -- Carl Dreyer films, Murnau’s FAUST, Cocteau’s BLOOD OF A POET, recently i saw AELITA QUEEN OF MARS, a rediscovered Soviet masterpiece which surfaced from Stalin’s film vaults, it has amazingly designed costumes and sets -- art deco on acid -- it came out a few years before METROPOLIS but seems to have inspired it.

One of my all-time favorites is Von Sternberg’s THE SCARLET EMPRESS (1934) -- one of the most intense decadent visual works -- watching it can induce a trance -- also James Whale's THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, one of the best written, acted and designed horror films.

Most of Akira Kurosawa and Sergio Leone’s films are incredible -- with Leone the story lines are kinda blurry, but his imagination explodes on screen -- Morricone’s music is brilliant -- just magic --music telling the story -- they usually worked out the music way before the filming began -- few directors get the importance of it -- Scorsese gets it -- but the story telling usually wins out in the end.

I probably soaked up the most from Jack Smith -- he had this unearthly, beautiful imagination -- living every moment in this ornamental fairyland vision he created... his approach and comic timing was brilliant. Jack always promoted the MARIA MONTEZ films as the Rosetta Stone of camp classics. They’ve become difficult films to locate but I’ve been searching them out.

In the early 70s i tried to catch all the Warhol and John Waters releases -- I was a great fan of Warhol’s -- his stuff was so plain and simple, just deadpan, flat and boring technique, but they are mesmerizing films that you can’t stop watching... Everything about those films were crappy except “the superstars” -- everything seemed so fantastic in that raw New York City world. I even began to admire all the bad lighting, poor dubbing, and miscues -- Warhol exposed the rough edges, making deconstructed movies that just seemed to expose more about what film is truly about -- They were great comedies that were funny just by being truthful.

I would also list Kenneth Anger’s INAUGURATION OF THE PLEASUREDOME, Bunuel’s VIRDIANA & UN CHIEN ANDALOU, Fellini’s JULIET OF THE SPIRITS... Maya Deren’s MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON, the Harry Smith animations... there’s a lot of great underground films, but they rarely are seen -- Mystic Video had been putting some amazing things out, but they seem to be in sleep mode lately.

I recently saw the Incredible String Band documentary BE GLAD FOR THE SONG HAS NO ENDING, and it's one of the most beautiful 60s film recordings of any band -- SUN RA: A JOYFUL NOISE is another good one.

Benjamin Christensen’s HAXAN is a great bizarre documentary about the history of witchcraft done in 1922. Louis Feuillade’s classic FANTOMAS series was a silent serial that made a big impression with the surrealists, a lavish 2 volume French DV set is available. I was gifted a copy last year from Ben Schot, a Dutch artist and publisher, and produced FANTOMASH, a half-hour compilation with a Monster Island soundtrack.

I'd also like to recommend DEATH BED: THE BED THAT EATS, written and directed by George Barry -- a recently discovered, obscure 70s cult film... a very odd piece of horror; a twisted black-arts fairytale, with an Oscar Wilde sensibility -- it was just released by Cult Epics (www.cultepics.com) These guys also released Walerian Borowczyk's lowbrow masterpiece : THE BEAST, a very strange work of Kafkaesque porn-art -- if you have the time and stomach, I'd recommend watching both as a kind of "Turkish Delight" double-feature... --http://www.blastitude.com/13/ETERNITY/grow_live_monsters.htm [Mar 2005]

2005, Mar 15; 17:59 ::: Beautiful agony


play .wmv
play .mpg
visit beautifulagony.com

Beautiful agony - facettes de la petite mort
... "Keep up the great work, and kudos on beautiful agony - it's the best neoporn website I've seen in a long time." - Fleshbot, 19/02/2004. ...

See also: orgasm - orgy - arousal - masturbation - sex

2005, Mar 15; 14:22 ::: Kicks (1995) - Jeremy Reed

Kicks (1995) - Jeremy Reed [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

Product Description:
A collection of poetry, prose-pieces, essays, translations and erotic film-scripts from award-winning writer Jeremy Reed, one of the most acclaimed poets and novelists of his generation.

Reed's androgynous visions embrace a uniquely poetic universe, presided over by icons such as Jean Genet, Warhol, Hart Crane, David Bowie, Proust, Baudeliare and Marc Almond - all of whom appear in this collection.

Kicks reveals the most outrageous, sexually outspoken side of Jeremy Reed, whilst demonstrating with consummate artistry how the spangled threads of his influences draw together to form a maverick blueprint for the future of literature and art.--via Amazon.com

2005, Mar 15; 14:18 ::: Decadent erotica

Dee shares the floor with Jeremy Reed
I visited Jeremy at his pad in Hampstead, London where we sat around discussing the work of this prize-winning poet, novelist, essayist, biographer, translator and writer of erotic film scripts. Acclaimed by Ballard, Ferlinghetti, and even Bjork as one of the most important writers of his generation and a major influence on the future of literature, art and society. Jeremy spoke about the significance of imagination, madness and sex, death and sex, De Sade, Bataille, Marc Almond and even Scott Walker. Jeremy's androgynous visions embrace a uniquely poetic universe in which he reconstructs anything from apocalyptic orgies to sexual delirium, intermingled with translations of Baudelaire and Genet, all tinged with the opulence of decadent erotica. --http://www.fringecore.com/magazine/m6-3.html [Mar 2005]

2005, Mar 15; 13:25 ::: Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays. (1957) - Northrop Frye

Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays. (1957) - Northrop Frye [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

Product Description:
Striking out at the conception of criticism as restricted to mere opinion or ritual gesture, Northrop Frye wrote this magisterial work proceeding on the assumption that criticism is a structure of thought and knowledge in its own right. In four brilliant essays on historical, ethical, archetypical, and rhetorical criticism, employing examples of world literature from ancient times to the present, Frye reconceived literary criticism as a total history rather than a linear progression through time.

Literature, Frye wrote, is "the place where our imaginations find the ideal that they try to pass on to belief and action, where they find the vision which is the source of both the dignity and the joy of life." And the critical study of literature provides a basic way "to produce, out of the society we have to live in, a vision of the society we want to live in."

Harold Bloom contributes a fascinating and highly personal preface that examines Frye's mode of criticism and thought (as opposed to Frye's criticism itself) as being indispensable in the modern literary world. --via Amazon.com

Anatomy of Critism is a book by Northrop Frye.
It lays out Frye's theory on comedy. He presents names for common comic steorotypes. He lays out his Green World Theory. His theory deal mostly with classical drama, and some philosophers say his character types have no bearing on modern times.

Yet, we see them everyday. Modern sitcoms are full of Frye's 'alazon' the braggart. Even as young children we are presented with the quintessential example of Frye theory, cartoons. A lot of Frye's theory can revel the strong roots of comic running through Western Civilization. Also read Bergson's Laughter; their theories work well together. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomy_of_Criticism [Mar 2005]

Ten years later he expanded his vision, arguing in Anatomy of Criticism that there are certain archetypes and symbols used throughout literature. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Frye [Mar 2005]

Northrop Frye in his Anatomy of Criticism deals extensively with what he calls myths of Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrative_structure [Mar 2005]

see also: criticism - literature - literary criticism - lit crit - Harold Bloom - narrative

2005, Mar 15; 13:25 ::: Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic (1911) - Henri Bergson

Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic (1911) - Henri Bergson [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

Amazon.com
Clem Kadiddlehopper wore a funny hat. Even animals other than humans seem to laugh, because they, too, possess emotions. And sometimes, when you're by yourself, you just start giggling for no reason. But that's not funny. As Henri Bergson, proto-existentialist French philosopher and author of Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic, would say, you can stop laughing now. We must rethink what tickles us. For Bergson, laughter is a purely intellectual response that serves the social purpose of assuaging discomfort over the unaccustomed and unexpected. We chuckle at Lucy attempting to wrap the bonbons speeding by on a candy-factory conveyor belt because she's stuck in one place, performing the same task over and over, and failing; we hope that in similar situations we could be more flexible. Bergson recaps: "Rigidity is the comic, and laughter is its corrective."

Bergson's thinking typifies a peculiarly Gallic tendency to rationalize the apparently ephemeral and subjective (in this case, humor), discussing it in exquisitely rarefied language in order to assert that which defies common sense (a funny hat is not funny, laughter expresses no emotion, no one laughs alone) but partakes nonetheless of a logical inevitability. Laughter, first published in 1911, clearly draws upon the early years of European modernism, yet also prefigures the movement in some ways. In recognizing the comic as it embodies itself in a "rigid," absentminded person, locked into repetitious, socially awkward behavior, Bergson--even as he looks backward, primarily to Molière--seems to be spawning the sophisticated visual and physical comedy of Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd; the transformation of Léger's figures into anthropoid machines; and Nijinsky's starring role in Stravinsky's satirical clockwork ballet Pétrouchka.

This little book resurrects a British translation that has long been out of print. While Laughter won't quite explain why the French love Jerry Lewis, or keep you in stitches, it's a bracing read that will make you think twice about laughing the next time someone stumbles into a lamppost. --Robert Burns Neveldine via Amazon.com

Product Description:
Philosophy. In this great philosophical essay, Henri Bergson explores why people laugh and what laughter means. First translated into English in 1911, this important work has long been unavailable.

see also: comedy - philosophy - Henri Bergson

2005, Mar 15; 13:07 ::: Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion (1981) - Rosemary Jackson

Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion (1981) - Rosemary Jackson [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

First sentence: "THE 'FANTASTIC' derives form the Latin, phantasticus, which is from the Greek , meaning to make visible or manifest..."

see also: fantastique - fantastic - fantasy - subversion

2005, Mar 15; 13:07 ::: The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre (1975?) - Tzvetan Todorov

The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre (1975?) - Tzvetan Todorov [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

Structuralist view of 'the fantastic', May 30, 2002
Those interested in the structuralist criticism of the 1960s-70s will find the most joy here, with Todorov applying the rigorous structuralist stance to one of literature's most fascinating genres. His demolition of Northrop Frye's approach to `genre' in Chapter 1 is still cogent after thirty years (and an amusing read in its own right), but it's Todorov's chapters on the `themes of the fantastic', and his conclusion on its role in literature generally, which are most compelling. This is not, however, an easy read. As Robert Scholes notes in his foreword, "neither structuralism itself nor poetics in general is noted for its ability to charm readers." You don't say. Fortunately, Todorov uses many examples from well known fantastic texts - such as `The Arabian Nights' and the works of Edgar Alan Poe - and also from lesser known French works which will have you rushing out to the antiquarian bookstore to hunt them down. You can accept or reject the structuralist position - but if nothing else, this book will open up a whole new world of `fantastic' novels for you to enjoy. --Steven Reynolds (Sydney, Australia) via Amazon.com

see also: fantastique - fantastic - fantasy

2005, Mar 15; 11:32 ::: The Movie Orgy (1968) - Joe Dante

SON OF MOVIE ORGY?!?!?!
In 1972, my first year of college, I saw a great "film" called SON OF MOVIE ORGY. It was a two-hour long mess of a montage, consisting of clips from public domain features like REEFER MADNESS, U.S. Army training films, old TV commercials, and trailers for bizarre flicks like THE SHOEMAKER AND THE ELVES. The juxtaposition of the mainstream stuff with the titillating stuff made it quite a shock to the senses, and I still recall parts of it vividly to this day. This was probably part of Joe Dante's MOVIE ORGY condensed for the Midnight College Movie circuit? Who knew? Good stuff, anyway! Sponsored by Budweiser Beer, if I recall. The same series showed THE MASK (aka EYES OF HELL) and of course, MARIHUANA. Ah, the '70s... --Son of Cathode from New England, 23 November 2002 via IMDb.com, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0270523/combined [Mar 2005]

His first film, made with his friend Jon Davison, was a seven-hour movie marathon, consisting of assorted clips from films, commercials and trailers, and titled—appropriately—The Movie Orgy (1968). --http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/dante.html [Mar 2005]

Scholars call this very American Sublime "post-modernism," a term that only its failures deserve. In Dante's work its name is "montage," a word that comes easily to the filmmaker because he also started as an editor, putting bits of found footage together to create a 7-hour compilation film, The movie orgy, that was screened on college campuses during the early 70s: montage of signs (the collision of two pieces of celluloid, two clichés, two styles of narrative, character, image, musical accompaniment) and montage of meanings (two contradictory ideas, emotions or attitudes colliding in the spectator's head while listening to Phoebe Cates' Santa Claus speech in Gremlins or watching one of the Commando Elite get his lower parts ground up in a garbage disposal in Small soldiers [US 1998]). Invaluable as a tool for satire, montage is also Dante's preferred formal procedure for producing what most modern filmmakers try to produce through its opposite, duration: the experience of the Sublime, which is consciousness of self raised to an apocalyptic pitch. --http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/firstrelease/fr1201/bkfr13a.htm [Mar 2005]

Seven Hour All-Night Once in a Lifetime Atomic Movie Orgy (1968) - Joe Dante

While attending the Philadelphia College of Art, Dante and his friend Jon Davidson put together The Movie Orgy (1968), a 7-hour compilation of kitschy film clips that was screened on the college-campus circuit under the sponsorship of Schlitz beer. --http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1800010390&cf=biog&intl=us [Mar 2005]

Orgy
Orgy has several meanings, including "a drunken revelry", a religious rite involving ecstatic dancing, an "unrestrained indulgence" (for example, "an orgy of destruction"), or group sexual activity. This article deals with the latter. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgy [Mar 2005]

see also: Joe Dante - montage - compilation - curator - trailer - orgy - film

2005, Mar 14; 17:18 ::: Saul Bass (1920 - 1996)

image sourced here. [Mar 2005]

Saul Bass (May 8, 1920 - April 25, 1996) is best known for his film title design, which is thought of as the best such work ever seen.

During his 40-year career he worked for some of Hollywood's greatest filmmakers, including most notably Alfred Hitchcock, plus Otto Preminger, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorcese. His most famous example is probably the animated paper cut-out of a heroin addict's arm for Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm.

Saul Bass designed the 6th AT&T Bell System logo, that at one point achieved a 93 percent recognition rate in the United States. He also designed the AT&T "globe" logo for AT&T after the break up of the Bell System.

Saul Bass was born in New York City on 8th May, 1920. He studied at the Art Student’s League in Manhattan until he was old enough to attend Brooklyn College. He began his time in Hollywood doing print work for film ads, until he collaborated with filmmaker Otto Preminger to design the poster for his 1954 film Carmen Jones. Preminger was so impressed with Bass’s work that he asked him to produce the title sequence as well. This was when Bass first saw the opportunity to create something more than a title sequence, but to create something which would ultimately enhance the experience of the audience and tell the beginning of the story within the opening credits. Saul Bass was one of the first to realise upon the storytelling potential of the opening and closing credits of a film.

Bass became notorious in the industry after creating the title sequence for Otto Premingers The Man with the Golden Arm (1955). The subject of the film was a jazz musicians struggle to overcome his heroin addiction, a taboo subject in the mid 50’s. Bass decided to create a controversial title sequence. He chose the arm as the central image, as the arm is a strong image relating to drug addiction. The titles featured an animated, black paper cut-out arm of a heroin addict. As he expected it caused quite a sensation. It was these kinds of innovative, revolutionary work that made Bass the revered graphic designer he is today. His later work with Martin Scorsese saw him move away from the optical techniques that he had pioneered and move into computerised titles, from which he produced the stunning sequence for Casino.

He had been designing title sequences for 40 years before his death in 1996, from films as diverse as It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) to Casino (1995). He also designed title sequences for films such as Goodfellas (1990), Doc Hollywood (1991), Cape Fear (1991) and The Age of Innocence (1993), all of which feature new and innovative methods of production and startling graphic design, and all of which attempt to tell some of the story, be it introducing characters or giving plot clues, in the first few minutes of the film.

Quote from Bass
"My initial thoughts about what a title can do was to set mood and the prime underlying core of the film's story, to express the story in some metaphorical way. I saw the title as a way of conditioning the audience, so that when the film actually began, viewers would already have an emotional resonance with it." --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Bass [Mar 2005]

2005, Mar 14; 16:56 ::: Phantasmagoria

image sourced here. [Mar 2005]

Early magic lanterns were commonly used in homes, but by the end of the 18th Century a special form of lantern show had developed. It was known as the 'phantasmagoria' (meaning collection of phantoms) and was made up of images of ghosts, skeletons and goblins. The picture on the left shows a slide of a female ghost being projected for an audience. The lantern is set on a trolley so that it can be moved towards and away from the screen, making the picture of the ghost larger and smaller.

The images were combined with sound effects of thunderclaps and explosions, and dry ice was used to create a smoky atmosphere. The ghost show that was produced thrilled or terrified audiences, forming a kind of precursor to today's horror films. It was these shows that gave the magic lantern its name - before then it had been known as the 'optical lantern'.

The phantasmagoria only remained popular until the beginning of the nineteenth century. The most common way to see a lantern show in the early nineteenth century was one put on by a travelling lanternist. You can find out about them on the next page. --http://www.ex.ac.uk/bill.douglas/Schools/lanterns/lantern2.htm [Mar 2005]

2005, Mar 14; 16:45 ::: The dead media project (1997 - )

The Dead Media Project - A collection of "research notes" on dead media technologies, from Incan quipus, through Victorian phenakistoscopes, to the departed video games and home computers of the 1980s. The Project's homepage, including Sterling's original Dead Media Manifesto can be found at http://www.deadmedia.org --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Sterling [Mar 2005]

see also: death - media - new media

2005, Mar 14; 15:25 ::: ***Forget the film, watch the credits !*** (2004?) - Frédéric Temps

***Forget the film, watch the credits !***
De echte geschiedenis van de in animatie uitgevoerde filmgenerieken is in de jaren vijftig begonnen toen onder andere Otto Preminger grafisch designer Saul Bass inschakelde voor het ontwerpen van zijn filmtitels. Bass' specifieke stijl kreeg heel wat navolging. Andere belangrijke namen uit die beginperiode zijn Maurice Binder (de eerste James Bond-films) en Fritz Freleng (The Pink Panther).

De jongste jaren zijn geanimeerde generieken opnieuw erg in trek. Dankzij ontwerpers en designers als Kyle Cooper (zijn generiek voor Seven wordt omschreven als 'a masterpiece of dementia'), Daniel Kleinman (Goldeneye) of het France duo Kuntzel & Degas die naam maakten met hun generiek voor de Spielberg-film Catch Me If You Can.

Dit tweedelig programma schetst een beeld van de geschiedenis en de evolutie in de stijlen vanaf 1955 tot 2003. Beide programma's van elk ongeveer 70 minuten worden ingeleid door samensteller Frédéric Temps. Muzikant, producent, journalist en regisseur Frédéric Temps is een van de organisatoren van het Parijse L'Etrange Festival, een atypisch filmfestival dat gespecialiseerd is in het (her)ontdekken van films die buiten alle categorieën vallen of vergeten zijn door de filmencyclopedieën. Dit programma kwam tot stand dankzij de medewerking van Folioscope. --http://www.cinebel.be/nl/film.asp?Code_film=13809 [Mar 2005]

Animated credits from A to Z

The aim of the credit sequence is to draw the viewer into the atmosphere of the film. Famous directors have realised this fact and called for help from animation specialists to make the names and titles dance on the screen. Every era has its style and influences.

First of all, back to the beginnings, as it's really quite comical. Looking again you will be surprised at how modest the "credit cards" were, if there were any at all. Very often, all you saw was the title of the film and the production, considered as a collective piece of work but not something that would last very long. It wasn't until the "talkies" arrived that the pace started to pick up. Each studio wanted to show its up and coming stars to the public. This meant that the public was bombarded with a long list of names and job titles that they were never going to remember.

At the beginning of the 1950's, the great Norman McLaren's overuse of credits on his films triggered Otto Preminger's awareness of the impact that animated credits had on the audience.He tracked down Saul Bass, a young and talented advertising graphic designer, and asked him to direct the credit sequence for Carmen Jones, a personal adaptation of the film Carmen. Happy with the results, Preminger asked him again to do the animated credit sequence for The Man with the Golden Arm. This time, Bass surpassed himself by using a multitude of graphic shapes set to a sustained melody, which riveted the spectators to their seats. This very advanced concept for its time has been repeated in advertising (which Bass opened to the creative field) and on television. The Saul Bass style was born! Alfred Hitchcock was not mistaken and used him to create three of the most beautiful credit sequences in cinema history: Vertigo, North by Northwest and Psycho.

This brought a new generation of graphic designers who accentuated this new fashion. Maurice Binder (an ex-colleague of Saul Bass and mythical graphic designer for James Bond), Pablo Ferro, inventor of the technique called the "quick cut" being applied to a torrent of letters and explosive images (there is no coincidence that Ferro is often called "the father of MTV") and David de Patie and Fritz Freleng (the fathers of Tweety Pie and Sylvester), creators of the famous Pink Panther…

The 1960's saw the explosion of narrative credit sequences. The cost of each film increased (a credit sequence for The Pink Panther cost 13 000 euros at the time!), the producers hoped that the credits would tell a story, captivate the audience and set the atmosphere for the film. In this sense, the credit sequence for Charade, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World or Dr. No mark a decade which today are still the richest as far as graphics and innovation are concerned, bringing their creators tostardom.

It's a little astonishing to think that Europe did not follow the trend and kept their credit designers in the background. Apart from the occasional names like Tito Topin (who opened Jean Yanne's films) or Jean Fouchet (That Man from Rio, Le Cerveau, Borsalino…), how many other artists were left in the shadows? Can anyone remember the talented creator of the Fantomas credits or the films of Michel Audiard?

The visual overdose of imagery in the 90's with ads and music videos saw the return of the sophisticated credit, bringing with it a new group of creators. The very gifted Kyle Cooper (Seven, Sphere, Island of Dr. Moreau) does not hide the enormous influence Saul Bass had on his work. The Englishman, Daniel Kleinman has recently taken over the place vacated by the master, Maurice Binder on the Bond series. As for the French pair Kuntzel & Deygas, they were recently noticed for the credits of Stephen Spielberg's Catch me if you can.

Over fifty years, the equipment has changed, but animated credits are constantly being reinvented. Doesn't Pablo Ferro say: "There's nothing new except that which has been forgotten." Are you up for it? Enjoy. --http://www.annecy.org/home/index.php?Page_ID=1016 [Mar 2005]

Title sequence
A title sequence, in a television program or film, is shown at the beginning which displays the show name and credits, usually including actors, producers and directors.

A montage of selected images and/or a theme song are often included to suggest the essential tone of the series.

In films, title sequences are often controlled by detailed contractual provisions regarding crediting the major players in the film (actors, directors, producers, casting agents, etc.) In some cases, directors have found their desire to make the title sequence they want inteferered with by the technical requirements of these contracts. (e.g., that the actors name be at least as large in font size as the title.) Sometimes, these requirements can be avoided by negotiating an ammendment to the actors contractor, although that can be expensive, if possible at all.

George Lucas was fined by the Directors Guild of America for refusing to have a standard title sequence in his Star Wars films. After paying the fine, Lucas quit the guild. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_sequence [Mar 2005]

The official American film directors' trade union is the Directors Guild of America (DGA). In DGA pictures the credit for the director will always be the last credit in the film's title sequence. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_%28film%29 [Mar 2005]

The theme music of a radio or television program is a melody closely associated with the show, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits. If it is accompanied by lyrics, it is a theme song. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_music [Mar 2005]

Setting tone
Authors set a tone in literature by conveying an emotion or emotions through words. The way a person feels about an idea, event, or another person can be quickly determined through facial expressions, gestures and in the tone of voice used. In literature an author sets the tone through words. The possible tones are as boundless as the number of possible emotions a human being can have. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setting_tone [Mar 2005]

Norman McLaren
Norman McLaren (April 11, 1914-January 27, 1987) was a Scottish animator and film director known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada. In 1968 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and promoted to Companion in 1973.

McLaren was born in Stirling, Scotland where he studied design at Glasgow School of Art and made his first experiments with film and animation. After finishing his studies in Glasgow and making a few films in London, McLaren’s moved to New York in 1939, just when the Second World War was about to begin. In 1941 he was invited to Canada to work for the National Film Board, to open animation studio and to train Canadian animators. During his work for the NFB, McLaren created his most famous film Neighbours (1952), which have won many prizes around the world including the Canadian Film Award and the Academy Award. Besides the brilliant combination of visuals and sound, the film has a very strong social message against violence and war. McLaren is famous for his experiments with image and sound as he developed a number of groundbreaking techniques for combining and synchronizing animation with music. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_McLaren [Mar 2005]

Title

  • An identifying name given to a book, play, film, musical composition, or other work.
  • A general or descriptive heading, as of a book chapter.
    • 1. Written material to be read by viewers that is included in a film or television show, typically presenting credits, narration, or dialogue. Often used in the plural.
    • 2. A written piece of translated dialogue superimposed at the bottom of the frame during a film; a subtitle.
--AHD

The art of film titles

april 7--8, 2000, Film Society of Lincoln Center
Curated by Wendy Keys, Ken Coupland and David Peters.

This program is made possible by a generous grant from the 2wice Arts Foundation and is dedicated to the memories of Tibor Kalman and Saul Bass.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center is proud to present a two day survey of movie titles: their history, their roots and their future. There will be two panels with the designers who will show their work and two illustrated presentations by Ken Coupland and David Peters: Titles Then and Titles Now, in which they reveal the creative strategies behind some of the most dramatic experiments in graphic imagery for film.

We will also present two programs of short animated and experimental films which illustrate the roots and inspirations for many of the early title designers.

Our survey will begin with the first wave of creative energy in the 50's and the extraordinary work of Saul Bass, and will move on to explore the present generation of innovative designers.

These mini-masterpieces are an exhilarating fusion of sound, music, text and visuals and often shift the balance of the film, raise the themes and set the mood, thereby significantly enhancing the magical experience of moviegoing.

As titles invite the filmgoer into the pleasures of the film, we invite you to attend this two day tribute to these oft-neglected designers and their magnificent work. --http://www.filmlinc.com/archive/programs/4-2000/titles/titles.htm [Mar 2005]

see also: auteurism - director - animation - name - theme - identity

2005, Mar 14; 15:25 ::: RIP: Martin Denny (1911 - 2005)

Exotica (1956) - Martin Denny image sourced here. [Mar 2005]

The Exciting Sounds of Martin Denny: Exotica/Exotica, Vol. I & II - Martin Denny [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

Martin Denny
10 April 1911 - 2 March 2005

Martin Denny, who created "exotica" music in the 1950s and lived to see it enjoy renewed worldwide popularity as "lounge music" and "tiki culture," has died at his Hawaii Kai residence. He was 93.

Christina Denny, his daughter and primary caregiver, said that her father "passed peacefully at 9 p.m." and that he had been "ready to go."

"With the passing of Martin Denny, the world has lost one of its great popular musicians," said Michael Largarticha, Musicians Association of Hawaii president.

"He created a sound that remains unique to this day, an entire genre of music which Martin described as a fusion of Asian, South Pacific, American jazz, Latin American and classical." --http://phinnweb.blogspot.com/2005/03/martin-denny-rip.html [Mar 2005]

Martin Denny (April 10, 1911 - March 2, 2005) is universally known as the founder and reigning king of exotica music, a type of big band music with Latin rhythms and overtones of Pacific Ocean culture that is largely scorned by critics but was extremely popular in the 1950s and 1960s. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Denny [Mar 2005]

see also: lounge - exotica - music

2005, Mar 14; 15:17 ::: Body parts slang

Body parts slang is any slang term which makes reference to sexual organs and related parts of the body. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_parts_slang [Mar 2005]

In the popular jargon of many civilized cultures, the use of sexual slang is a form of humor or euphemism that often creates controversy over its popular use. Sexual humor is seen in many circles as crude and unsophisticated, as well as insulting towards the subject it describes. Nevertheless, sexual humor has been popular since the earliest days of civilization, and crude humor is seen as having its own place in popular culture.

Sexual slang is often used by adolescent youths as a ritual of growing up. It is one way that youths often test the limits of tolerance in their society, both in their own families and in the community in general.

The popularity of various comedians who indulge in sexual slang, from George Carlin to Andrew Dice Clay, reflects the appeal of this form of speech. It is often seen as a form of taboo, where much of its appeal comes from the shock value of daring to speak "forbidden" words in public. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_parts_slang [Mar 2005]

see also: body - euphemism - language

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