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

2005, Oct 12; 23:00 ::: Elle et Moi (1978) by Max Berlin

Sleeve of the seven inch of Max Berlin's Elle et Moi (1978)

Cerrone'ss brother pursued a short recording career in the seventies when he released a four track Ep on Belgian imprint USA Import. This featured the twisted funk stormer Elle et Moi. --source, Tigersushi

See also: music

2005, Oct 12; 23:00 ::: Agnes Laurent

Unidentified picture of Agnes Laurent

See also: actress

2005, Oct 12; 18:44 ::: Un Mundo para mí (1959) by José Antonio de la Loma

Un Mundo para mí (1959) by José Antonio de la Loma [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

This film was released in the USA by Radley Metzger in 1964 as Soft Skin on Black Silk. [Oct 2005]

Metzger added 40 (!) minutes of footage (shot on the beach in Montauk) to '59 French feature Soft Skin on Black Silk and created The Dictionary of Sex by editing scenes from various Euro features into a compilation film. "The most re-shooting we did was on the second picture that we bought. There was a film that had been done prior to The Fast Set called Les Collegiennes (the college girls). We called it The Twilight Girls. It featured a girl named Agnes Laurent who developed a kind of a cult following around people who went to exploitation films. She was going to do an AIP picture but she got involved in a scandal with some big executive in Hollywood and that sort of ended her career. We had her in three or four pictures that we bought. I wanted to make a picture with her, but we never did." --The Erotic World of Radley Metzger, From Psychotronic Video No. 17, Winter 1994 --http://www.vidmarc.demon.co.uk/mondo-erotico/metzger/interviews/EroticWorldOfRadley.html [Oct 2005]

José Antonio de la Loma (4 March 1924 Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain - 6 April 2004 Barcelona, Spain) was a Spanish film director.

See also: Radley Metzger

2005, Oct 12; 18:36 ::: Dictionary of Sex

The receptiveness of the establishment to the outlaw sub-art in the early and middle 70s was evident at the two major film festivals I took part in, Cannes and New York. In Cannes' unofficial sidebar, known as the Market, Mary and I saw Behind the Green Door, Lasse Braun's Sensations, Max Pecas' Dictionary of Sex and Metzger's Score, where, after a screening of the film's soft-core version, we were invited to stay for an alternate final reel featuring hard-core sex. (Metzger went on to direct one more arty hard-core, the excellent Paris-shot SM drama The Image, before turning to light-hearted New York porn under the pseudonym Henry Paris.) The Market was just that: a film showcase to lure international buyers. But the porn movies on display fit snugly into the tone of the official Festival. They were serious (if not successful) works, as ambitious as they were lubricious. --Richard Corliss in That Old Feeling: When Porno Was Chic via http://www.time.com/time/columnist/corliss/article/0,9565,1043267-2,00.html [Oct 2005]

See also: Richard Corliss - porno chic - porn film - 1970s film

2005, Oct 12; 17:45 ::: Various - 80's Underground Clubbing


Label: Bang! Music
Catalog#: 313003
Format: 2xCD
Released: May 2004

Notes: "Underground Classics: cult tunes and rarities from the eighties. Compiled by Bernard Dobbeleer" - inspired by his DJ sets at La Chapelle club in Liège, Belgium. Packaged in digipack gatefold sleeve.

Sleeve notes list CDs as X and Y.

Sleeve note accompanying CD1-16: "If you happen to be a member of Nightmoves or someone from their publishing company, please contact us, we have royalties for you and a big box of belgian chocolates."

Tracklisting:

  • CD1-01 Human League, The Being Boiled (3:24)
  • CD1-02 Gang Of Four I Love A Man In A Uniform (Dub Version) (4:46)
  • CD1-03 Herbie Hancock Rockit (5:21)
  • CD1-04 Sunshine Band, The Black Water Gold (4:20)
  • CD1-05 Shriekback My Spine (Is The Bassline) (3:54)
  • CD1-06 Devo Whip It (2:37)
  • CD1-07 Marine (2) Same Beat (3:15)
  • CD1-08 Serge Gainsbourg Requiem Pour Un C... (2:44)
  • CD1-09 Stretch (3) Why Did You Do It? (3:51)
  • CD1-10 Liquid Liquid Cavern (5:16)
  • CD1-11 Cultural Vibe Ma Foom Bey (Love Chant Version) (5:30)
  • CD1-12 Anne Clark Sleeper in Metropolis (4:43)
  • CD1-13 Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit and Holger Czukay How Much Are They? (4:46)
  • CD1-14 Public Image Limited This Is Not A Love Song (4:21)
  • CD1-15 Quando Quango Love Tempo (7:00)
  • CD1-16 Night Moves Trans-Dance (UK Mix) (5:39)
  • CD2-01 Man Parrish Hip Hop Be Bop (5:26)
  • CD2-02 Richie Havens Going Back To My Roots (4:51)
  • CD2-03 Pigbag Papa's Got A Brand New Pig Bag (3:27)
  • CD2-04 Honeymoon Killers, The Décollage (5:15)
  • CD2-05 Grace Jones Pull Up To The Bumper (4:29)
  • CD2-06 Fad Gadget Lady Shave (4:50)
  • CD2-07 Arbeid Adelt Death Disco (2:36)
  • CD2-08 Marc Dixon Cocktail (DJ Dobbs Re-Edit) (4:45)
  • CD2-09 Grauzone Eisbär (4:19)
  • CD2-10 B-52's, The Planet Claire (4:30)
  • CD2-11 Marie Et Les Garcons Re Bop (2:35)
  • CD2-12 Rheingold Dreiklangsdimensionen (5:49)
  • CD2-13 Vicious Pink 8:15 To Nowhere (2:45)
  • CD2-14 Crash Course In Science Flying Turns (2:57)
  • CD2-15 Liaisons Dangereuses Los Niños Del Parque (5:01)
  • CD2-16 Marc Moulin Balek (4:17)
  • CD2-17 Max Berlin Elle & Moi (4:17) --via http://www.discogs.com/release/306332 [Oct 2005]

    2005, Oct 12; 17:45 ::: Liquid Liquid

    Liquid Liquid (1997) by Liquid Liquid [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
    Compilation on Grand Royal Records (Beastie Boys' label)

    Liquid Liquid were a band who were active from 1980 to 1983. Their track "Cavern", from the Optimo EP, was sampled by Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel for "White Lines (Don't Do It)". Since the Band’s inception in 1980, the sounds of Liquid Liquid have haunted the clubs. The original records were pressed in very limited quantities, and can now fetch high prices. Though the pressings were small the impact the music has made is lasting and far reaching. Their music was essentially groove based, influenced by the many different sources, funk, dub reggae of the 1970s, and primarily punk in it’s do it yourself garage approach. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_Liquid [Oct 2005]

    See also: Liquid Liquid - dance - punk - post punk - music - 1980s music - No Wave

    2005, Oct 11; 20:09 ::: Naked Came the Stranger (1969) by Penelope Ashe

    NY: Lyle Stuart (1969). First edition.
    Image sourced here.

    Naked Came the Stranger (1969) by Penelope Ashe [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

    Book Description
    In 1969, a group of reporters at Long Island Newsday decided to have some fun. They were appalled at the poor writing in the then-current bestsellers by Jacqueline Susann, Irving Wallace and Harold Robbins. They decided to have a contest to see who could write on an even lower level of tawdriness. Editor Mike McGrady directed the spinning of the plot. Then, twenty-four seasoned newsmen and newswomen each wrote one chapter. Fifteen chapters were selected, the plot smoothed out, and a great American hoax was on its way to being born. McGrady's sister-in-law assumed the nom-de-plume Penelope Ashe. The book was presented to a publisher as being written by a "demure Long Island housewife who thought she could write as well as J. Susann."

    Unbeknownst to the "author," the publisher was in on the secret. The book actually hit the New York Times bestseller list even before the hoax was uncovered by the Times. The hoax became an international story and the book became an international bestseller. Naked Came the Stranger became a huge mass-market hit and was made into a film which premiered at the same theatre that had introduced the world to Deep Throat. Not since Naked Came the Stranger has publishing experienced any hoax that came near to getting the sensational response and worldwide attention engendered by this one. And, to the surprise of all, the book is a delightfully entertaining read.

    About the Author
    Penelope Ashe is a pseudonym for a cooperative effort that included twenty-four different authors. There are 19 surviving authors many of whom have since left Long Island and live across the country. Thirty-four years later many of the authors are still active journalists working for newspapers such as the New York Times and Newsday.

    Radley Metzger
    Radley Metzger turned Naked Came the Stranger into a movie. VCA produced it in 1975. It stars Darby Lloyd Rains, Mary Stuart, Christine Hutton, Helen Madigan, Levi Richards, Alan Marlow, Kevin Andre, Lina Lovemore, Ronda Fuller, David Savage, Steve Anthony, and Marc Stevens. Running time is 75 minutes. --http://www3.isrl.uiuc.edu/~unsworth/courses/bestsellers/search.cgi?title=Naked+Came+the+Stranger [Oct 2005]

    Made between Pamela Mann and Misty Beethoven this Metzger hardcore film has an unusual origin as a famous literary hoax. 25 editors and journalists at the New York daily newspaper "Newsday" conspired to write the worst novel of all time, then see how far they could drive it up the bestseller lists. To ensure lack of quality, they wrote it by committee. The resulting novel "Naked Came the Stranger" (1969), was an incomprehensible hodgepodge about the sexual adventures of husband-and-wife radio talk show hosts. The authors sent out an attractive woman claiming to be the author to hustle their book on the talk show circuit. After the book became a top-10 bestseller, the conspirators admitted that they were the authors. Five years later, Metzger bought the rights to the book and made this very odd and sometimes funny film which included one of Darby Lloyd Rains' most memorable weird scenes, masturbating in a stairwell while listening with comical disbelief (through an apartment door) to the innane sexual baby-talk her husband's mistress gushes during sex. "William and Gillian have the most popular talk-show around, maybe because they talk about sex. But when William starts giving intimate sex advice in his spare time, his lovely wife decides to give him a dose of his own medicine." --http://www.cinebizarre.com/xdir_metzger.htm [Oct 2005]

    The book was published by Lyle Stuart. Lyle Stuart is an American independent publisher of controversial books. He has published Jackie Oh! (1978), The Anarchist Cookbook and Naked Came the Stranger. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyle_Stuart [Oct 2005]

    Penelope Ashe, author of bestselling novel, Naked Came the Stranger is found to be several people who each took a turn writing a chapter of what they described as "junk" in order to prove that sex-filled trash sells. It did. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969_in_literature [Oct 2005]

    See also: hoax - 1969 - USA - erotic fiction - Radley Metzger

    2005, Oct 11; 17:09 ::: Subculture index

    Related: alternative culture - clothing - counterculture - cult - culture - CCCS - Cultural Studies - fringe - lifestyle - minority - music - outsider - people - social - style - subversion - history of subcultures - taste - underground - youth

    Drug subcultures: alcohol - cocaine - ecstasy - hashish - heroin - LSD - magic mushrooms - opium - poppers - pot - speed

    Various subcultures: fandom - religious subcultures - bohemianism - hippies - new Age - youth movements - outsider - body modification - biker

    Musical subcultures: mods - punk - disco - hip-hop - rap - goths

    Sexual subcultures: queer culture - BDSM subculture - fetish subculture - nudism

    Criminal subcultures: juvenile delinquents - pickpockets - thieves

    Theorists: Dick Hebdige - Albert Cohen

    Contrast: mainstream - popular culture

    See also: culture - subculture

    2005, Oct 11; 17:09 ::: Alternative society

    The phrase alternative society may have been in usage since the 19th century when Karl Marx and Proudhon represented two factions for alternative visions of social change.

    Philosophers who suggested alternative models for society included: Charles Fourier (1772-1837), Robert Owen (1771-1858), Louis Blanc (1811-1882), Louis-Auguste Blanqui (1805-1881) and Wilhelm Weitling (1808-1871). The background of alternative social thinking stems largely from the history of utopianism.

    The phrase and variations of it appear throughout the progressive political and social writings of the 20th century. Mahatma Gandhi and his followers such as Satish Kumar advocate, as an alternative to violent revolution, the creation of alternative social services, alternative transportation systems, alternative food and clothing production, alternative housing, alternative medicine, alternative arts and alternative communications media including an alternative press. By recreating every facet of society and providing better services than the official ones the plan is that the people will flock to the alternative society and desert the establishment. Then the leaders of the establishment would follow. Thus change would be accomplished without violence. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative society [Oct 2005]

    See also: alternative - society

    2005, Oct 11; 16:59 ::: Reader

    A reader is a book of different pieces of writing, often by many authors, collected for some purpose. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reader [Oct 2005]

    See also: compilation - anthology

    2005, Oct 11; 14:59 ::: Theories of Crime: The Subcultural Tradition

    The Subcultural Tradition
    1. "A General Theory of Subcultures" (1955), Albert Cohen in Delinquent Boys: The Culture of a Gang
    2. "Illegitimate Means and Delinquent Subcultures" (1960), Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin in Delinquency and Opportunity: A Theory of Delinquent Gangs
    3. "Subcultural Differentiation" (1960), Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin in Delinquency and Opportunity: A Theory of Delinquent Gangs
    4. Adolescent Subcultures and Delinquency (1985), Herman Schwendinger and Julia Siegel Schwendinger
    5. Islands in the Street: Gangs and American Urban Society (1991), Martin Sanchez Janokowski
    6. "On Gang Delinquency and the Nature of Subcultures" (1968), James F. Short in Gang Delinquency and Delinquent Subcultures
    7. Delinquency and Opportunity: A Theory of Delinquent Gangs (1960), Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin
    8. The Subculture of Violence: Toward an Integrated Theory in Criminology (1967), Marvin Wolfgang and Franco Ferracuti
    --via Theories of Crime at http://www.seweb.uci.edu/users/jenness/Gcrim.html [Oct 2005]

    See also: crime - subculture

    2005, Oct 11; 11:59 ::: Mass society

    Mass society is a society in which the concerns of the majority – the lower social classes – play a prominent role, characterized by extension of voting rights, an improved standard of living for the lower classes and mass education. Less often, the term mass society is also used by sociologists simply to describe a large society - i.e. one composed of many indivudals.

    The theory of mass society, cited by Daniel Bell in the first essay in The End of Ideology (1960) as being "probably the most influential social theory in the Western world today", is derived from several sources. Bell, after a survey of the diverse origins and permutations of the concept concludes it does not apply to modern American with its many diverse voluntary organizations.

    C. Wright Mills in his book, The Power Elite describes society as being divided between the power elite and the masses who are controlled by them [1]. Mills describes the American theory that power arises from the public as a "fairy tale", arguing that autonomous public opinion arising from public discussion does not exist, rather a disorganized mass which is acted on by an elite through the mass media thus shaping the nature of "public opinion". The theory of mass society has heavily influenced public discourse on popular culture and even scholarly popular culture studies. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_society [Oct 2005]

    See also: mass culture - popular culture - popular culture theory - society

    2005, Oct 11; 11:41 ::: After the Great Divide: Modernism, Mass Culture, Postmodernism (Theories of Representation and Difference) (1986) by Andreas Huyssen

    After the Great Divide: Modernism, Mass Culture, Postmodernism (Theories of Representation and Difference) (1986) by Andreas Huyssen [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

    "Pop in the broadest sense was the context in which a notion of the postmodern first took shape, and from the beginning until today, the most significant trends within postmodernism have challenged modernism's relentless hostility to mass culture." -- Andreas Huyssen

    "all culture is standardized, organized and administered for the sole purpose of serving as an instrument of social control" (Huyssen 21).

    See also: mass culture - popular culture - Modernism - Postmodernism

    2005, Oct 11; 21:54 ::: The Intellectuals and the Masses: Pride and Prejudice Among the Literary Intelligentsia, 1880-1939 (1992) - John Carey

    The Intellectuals and the Masses: Pride and Prejudice Among the Literary Intelligentsia, 1880-1939 (1992) - John Carey [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

    A while back, someone wrote a comment on one of my posts in which he suggested that I should read John Carey’s book The Intellectuals and the Masses. And indeed it has proved to be a rewarding experience.

    John Carey, by the way, was Merton Professor of English at Oxford until he retired in 2001, and he is still an emeritus Professor. The sub-title of his book is Pride and Prejudice among the Literary Intelligentsia, 1880-1939.

    The book comes in two parts. The first part contains various ‘themes’ and the second offers case studies of several writers.

    You don’t have to read very far in this book before you get a surprise. And the surprise is that an Oxford Professor really doesn’t have much time for the literary intelligentsia. Or at any rate, not the kind of people he writes about in this book. In fact I don’t think I’m reading too much into it when I say that he despises large numbers of them.

    The general thesis of the book is that the (largely self-anointed) intellectual classes were deeply shaken by nineteenth-century social developments. I’m not sure that Carey mentions the French Revolution of 1789 (it isn’t in the short index), but I think we could argue that that event was deeply disturbing to all those in Europe who held positions of influence, power, and wealth.

    What the French Revolution demonstrated was that you weren’t necessarily safe even if you were a King. You could still end up in prison, or worse, with your head chopped off.

    As the nineteenth century moved on, the ruling classes (from whom intellectuals were exclusively drawn in those days) began to be aware that the masses (for want of a better term) were rapidly growing in power and influence. What was more, they were being taught to read! And this was deeply alarming. Who could say what ideas they might pick up? A revolution in France was bad enough – but what if it spread? A widespread and deep-seated fear of the masses began to percolate through the intelligentsia.

    [P]rofessor Carey’s book on intellectuals and the masses is, in and of itself, a good argument for the existence of universities. Only an academic would have the time (and indeed the duty) to undertake the necessary reading and to think through the implications of the results. I doubt whether many of Professor Carey’s colleagues ever thanked him for this book; but the rest of us ought to be deeply grateful. --http://grumpyoldbookman.blogspot.com/2005/08/john-carey-intellectuals-and-masses.html [Oct 2005]

    See also: snob - taste - Modernism - John Carey - intellectuals - mass

    2005, Oct 11; 16:54 ::: Bee-Line paperbacks

    Bee-Line paperback, USA
    Image sourced here.

    The town was a keg of dynamite sex-hungry women who "loved" each other while their husbands stood guard over the nation's safety.

    They played for pay! Their husband's jobs demanded top priority, leaving them neglected, bored and frustrated. To pass the time and get back at their men, the women turned to each other for satisfaction, uncovering some hidden desires best left alone...

    They formed a "sex club" an amateur prostitution ring that added a certain spice to their lives...but when one of the project men lost complete control and went on a rampage of rape and murder, he turned the town into a fear-ridden, tension-filled jungle, and they all knew it wouldn't be long before the lid was blown all the way off. --excerpt via http://nakedhippies.blogspot.com [Oct 2005]

    Softcore Publishing: The East Coast Scene
    by Jay Gertzman

    Softcore sleaze paperbacks have an erotic promise that holds its own—the libidinous nudges of titles, blurbs and cover art, even the suggestions offered by the authors’ names. In the earlier ’60s, four-letter words were strictly taboo. Not only were “cock,” “balls,” and “pussy” inadvisable, but even the scientific designations for the sex organs were considered problematic. Unlike hardcore, the curtain rose in the first act, not the last: the sex scenes had to be in proportion to the bulk of the story, so setting and characterization were necessary.

    As a sort of requiem for the genre, Olympia Press published, in 1971, The Dirtiest Book in Town, a fictional collection of softcore covers, blurbs, and text. (1) The storylines and euphemisms concocted were a satiric tribute to the verbal and narrative skills needed to write such books. There was, for example, the stream-of-consciousness gambit:

    Suddenly he was pumping and pounding and gasping and grunting and groaning and moaning and grinding and pushing and pulling and shoving and tearing.

    The science fiction variation:

    They all had seven breasts, and not as we know them on Earth women—much larger, with nipples flaming red, and erect. The usual female opening was in the back, and in the front they all had oversized penes [sic]—three times larger than any known on Earth men... Then Philiotina, their chieftain, forced her huge erection into Bill’s anus—way up to the base—while two others held his legs apart as she forced her hugeness in and out...

    And the clinical report:

    Then he [vernacular for osculated] my [vernacular for mammalia (sic)]. I spun around and started to [vernacular for fellatio]. He [vernacular for digitalized] my [vernacular for genitalia]. Moments later we were [vernacular for copulating].

    The softcore paperback sex pulp had a long span of popularity, a large readership, and a complex publishing history. It may have been a literary lightweight, but it took a lot of effort to get it to work correctly to bring in the money. And it certainly did do that. By 1969, according to the President’s Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, in New York City alone, publishers issued per month, respectively, 20 titles with press runs of at least 75,000 copies (Midwood-Tower, with yearly sales of 7.2 to 9 million copies) and 12 titles with runs of about 25,000 (Bee-Line; about 3.1 million copies sold for the year).

    Before we begin, we must be clear that popular paperback publishing after World War II was based on the procedures used to publish and distribute mass-market magazines. The antecedent of the adult bookstore was the urban newsstand. Successful booksellers and publishers understood what sold magazines, how their distributors operated, who bought them, and why the customers came back for more of the same. Paperback books, as well the digest-sized newsstand pulps that preceded them, were written and marketed as if they were magazines. Until 1957, the American News Company distributed both. Distributors were the most influential people in the business, for it was they who delivered, and placed in racks, the publications. --http://feralhouse.com/press/sin-a-rama/excerpts/east.html [Oct 2005]

    A newsstand, known as a newsagent's in countries using British English, is a small business that sells newspapers, magazines, snacks and often items of local interest such as postcards and clothing emblazoned with sports team mascots. Newsstands typically operate in well-trafficked public places like city streets and airports. Racks for newspapers and magazines can also be found in convenience stores and supermarkets.

    The physical establishment can be either freestanding or part of a larger structure (e.g. a shopping mall or a railway station). On street corners in New York City, for instance, they are constructed of steel beams and aluminum siding and require a city permit to build and operate. Other New York newsstands are located inside hotels and office buildings and beneath street level in underground concourses or on subway platforms. During the 1990s, newsstands on some subway platforms were removed and then reopened in modular units designed to fit into the triangular spaces beneath subway staircases. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsstand [Oct 2005]

    See also: Jay Gertzman - softcore - paperback - paraliterature - 1960s - sleaze

    2005, Oct 11; 16:54 ::: Francesco (1989) - Liliana Cavani

    Francesco (1989) - Liliana Cavani [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

    Amazon.co.uk Review
    Francesco is Liliana Cavani's second biopic of St. Francis, appearing two decades after Francesco d'Assisi (1966), evidence of the director's enduring fascination with the 13th-century Italian noble who gave up a life of privilege to serve God. Once over the surprise of Hollywood hard man Mickey Rourke as Francesco, the actor gives a creditable performance; cast aside memories of Franco Zeffirelli's ethereal Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1973) and remember that before his calling Francesco was a professional soldier, and afterwards led a life of poverty. This is the full European version--though Rourke and an excellent Helena Bonham Carter have their own voices, some of the supporting players are dubbed to distracting effect--running 128 minutes and proving much more coherent than the cut American print. It's obviously low budget, concentrating on character and story rather than production values and spectacle, though the stark beauty of the cinematography and atmospheric score by Vangelis call to mind Ridley Scott's later 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992). For all its limitations Francesco successfully conveys a sense of place and time, of a different world with different values, giving the impression that medieval Italy might really have been something like this. --Gary S.Dalkin via Amazon.co.uk

    Starring: Mickey Rourke, Helena Bonham Carter

    Francis of Assisi
    Saint Francis of Assisi (born in Assisi, Italy, 1181; died there on October 3, 1226) founded the Franciscan Order or "Friars Minor". He is the patron saint of animals, merchants, Catholic action and the environment. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi [Oct 2005]

    See also: Italian cinema - Liliana Cavani

    2005, Oct 11; 16:34 ::: The Corpse Bride [SOUNDTRACK] (2005) - Danny Elfman (Composer)

    The Corpse Bride [SOUNDTRACK] (2005) - Danny Elfman (Composer) [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

    Tim Burton's Corpse Bride is a 2005 stop-motion-animation film based on a 19th century Russian-Jewish folktale version of an older Jewish story. It was directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnson, and filmed at Vinton Studios in London. It stars Johnny Depp as the voice of Victor and Helena Bonham Carter as the voice of the Corpse Bride. This is the first animated film in which Johnny Depp has been a voice actor.

    The movie bears a striking resemblance to The Nightmare Before Christmas, a gothic stop-motion movie based on a Tim Burton poem, which Corpse Bride director Mike Johnson worked on as an animator. Some commercials for Corpse Bride are even accompanied by songs from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

    Plot
    The story is set in a cold, gloomy Victorian town, a parody of aristocratic England. A young, nervous man by the name of Victor Van Dort, son of rich fishmongers Nell and William Van Dort, is due to be wed to beautiful young Victoria Everglot, daughter of bankrupt (as well as ugly and unpleasant) aristocrats Maudeline and Finis Everglot. Victor isn't too keen on the idea of an arranged marriage until he meets Victoria face-to-face. After bumbling his wedding vows at the wedding rehearsal, Victor flees to the forest. There he practices his vows, and discovering what he takes to be a stick protruding from beneath the ice on a pond, places his bride's wedding ring on it. No sooner has he done so than Emily, the Corpse Bride, emerges from beneath the ice, dressed in a moldy, flowing wedding dress and declares Victor her husband. She was mysteriously killed on her wedding day and has been waiting for her groom to come and claim her ever since. She whisks Victor away to the surprisingly colorful, vibrant and musical Land of the Dead. Victor must choose whether to remain with her, or to find a way back to his fiancée. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpse_Bride [Oct 2005]

    See also: American cinema - Tim Burton

    2005, Oct 11; 14:34 ::: The Woodsman (2004) - Nicole Kassell

    The Woodsman (2004) - Nicole Kassell [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

    The Woodsman is a 2004 film directed by Nicole Kassell. It was nominated for the "Grand Jury Prize" award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, and was a featured film at the 2005 Traverse City Film Festival.

    After twelve years in prison, Walter (Kevin Bacon) arrives in an unnamed city, moves into a small apartment across the street from an elementary school, gets a job at a lumber mill, and mostly keeps to himself. A quiet, guarded man, Walter finds unexpected solace from Vickie (Kyra Sedgwick), a tough-talking woman who promises not to judge him for his history. But Walter cannot escape his past. Walter is a pedophile. Walter is warily eyed by his brother-in-law, shunned by his sister, lives in fear of being discovered at work, and is hounded by a suspicious local police officer, Detective Lucas (Def). After befriending a young girl in a neighbourhood park, Walter must also grapple with the terrible prospect of his own reawakened demons.

    The movie was shot in Philadelphia, which is the hometown of cast members Kevin Bacon, and Eve, as well as the birthplace of director Nicole Kassell. Kevin Bacon wanted to speak with a thicker Philadelphia accent than he usually has, because he thought it was essential to the character of Walter. The girls who Walter was attracted to and molested were between the ages of 10 and 12, which is considered to be prepubescent, although some 12 year old girls look like adolescents. Therefore one could conclude that he is a pedophile based on the fact that 10 and 11 year old girls are usually prepubescent, and so are many 12 year old girls. It seems inaccurate to describe Walter as a ephebophile considering that he wasn't attracted to girls older than 12. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Woodsman [Oct 2005]

    See also: American cinema - pedophilia

    2005, Oct 11; 14:34 ::: Unreliable narrator

    An unreliable narrator is a character who may be giving an imperfect or incorrect account, either consciously or unconsciously. This can be due to that character's biases, ulterior motives, psychological instability, youth, or a limited or second-hand knowledge of the events. The author in these cases must give reader information the narrator does not intend she may deduce the truth. This process creates a tension that is a central force behind the power of first person narratives, and provide the only unbiased clues about the character of the narrator. To some extent ALL narrators are unreliable, varying in degree from trust-worthy Ishmael in Moby Dick to the severely retarded Benjy in The Sound and the Fury and the criminal Humbert Humbert in Lolita. Other notable examples of unreliable narrators include Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby, and Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye.

    Unreliable narrators aren't limited to fiction. Memoirs, autobiographies and autobiographical fiction have the author as narrator and character. Sometimes the author purposely makes his narrator persona unreliable such as Jim Carroll in The Basketball Diaries. Other times the author himself is unreliable. This is generally the case in political memoirs where biases and ulterior motives dominate. This is especially true in campaign books such as George W. Bush's A Charge to Keep or John Edwards' Four Trials.

    A writer's choice of narrator is crucial for the way a work of fiction is perceived by the reader. Generally, a First-Person narrator brings greater focus on the feelings, opinions, and perceptions of a particular character in a story, and on how that character views the world and the views of other characters. If the writer's intention is to get inside the world of a character, then it is a good choice, although a third-person limited narrator is an alternative that doesn't require the writer to reveal all that a first-person character would know. By contrast, a third-person omniscient narrator gives a panoramic view of the world of the story, looking into many characters and into the broader background of a story. For stories in which the context and the views of many characters are important, a third-person narrator is a better choice. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrator#Types_of_narrator [Oct 2005]

    See also: fiction - bias - character - narrative - narratology - story

    2005, Oct 11; 10:34 ::: Omniscient narrator

    In literature, an omniscient narrator is a narrator who appears to know everything about the story being told, including what all the characters are thinking. Stories told by an omniscient narrator are usually narrated in the third person; in other words, no character is referred to as "I" or "you" except in dialogue. In some unusual cases, the reliability and impartiality of the narrator may be in question. An omniscient narrator offers the reader a bird-eye view about the story. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omniscient_narrator [Oct 2005]

    Film can have an omniscient narrator too, as in Jules and Jim and Y tu Mama Tambien.

    See also: narrative - narratology - story

    2005, Oct 11; 10:24 ::: La Nouvelle Héloise: Julie, or the New Eloise : Letters of Two Lovers, Inhabitants of a Small Town at the Foot of the Alps (1761) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

    La Nouvelle Héloise: Julie, or the New Eloise : Letters of Two Lovers, Inhabitants of a Small Town at the Foot of the Alps (1761) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

    Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse is an epistolary romance novel by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, published in 1761 by Rey (Amsterdam). The original edition was entitled Lettres de deux amans habitans d'une petite ville au pied des Alpes.

    The novel’s subtitle points to the the history of Heloise and Pierre Abélard, a medieval story of passion and Christian renunciation. The novel was put on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie%2C_ou_la_nouvelle_H%C3%A9lo%C3%AFse [Oct 2005]

    See also: Index Prohibitorum - 1760s - epistolary - romantic - love - epistolary - Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Firmin Abauzit - Baron d'Holbach - Ermenonville

    2005, Oct 11; 10:09 ::: Heloïse and Abelard

    Abelard and Heloïse Surprised by the Abbot Fulbert (Les Amours d'Héloïse et d'Abeilard) (1819) by Jean Vignaud
    Image sourced here.

    The story of Abelard and Heloise, chronicled in Abelard's autobiographical writing and the lovers' letters, was often retold by troubadour painters. Abelard (1079-1142), one of the leading and most controversial thinkers of his day, was Heloise's tutor. When their passionate love for each other was discovered by Heloise's uncle, the Abbot Fulbert, the two married but secretly, to protect Abelard's standing. The Abbot, however, betrayed the secret, and in order to salvage his reputation, Abelard sent Heloise to the Convent of Saint Mary at Argenteuil. Believing Abelard was casting off his niece, the Abbot took revenge on him by having him castrated. The pair's subsequent correspondence attests that, through adversities and tragedy, their devotion to each other never faltered. Heloise eventually took vows and became a respected Abbess, while Abelard was prominent in a number of religious and political disputes, which culminated in his famous controversy with Bernard of Clairvaux. --http://www.joslyn.org/permcol/euro/pages/vignaud.html [Oct 2005]

    See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Ab%C3%A9lard

    The letters of Heloise (1101 - 1162) and Pierre Abélard are among the best known records of early romantic love. Although Heloise was a highly educated young woman, not a great deal is known of her immediate family except that in her letters she implies she is of a lower social standing, probably the Garlande family who had money and several members in strong positions, than Abelard, who was from the nobility. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heloise_%28student_of_Abelard%29 [Oct 2005]

    See also: 1100s - romantic - love - epistolary - Middle Ages - monk - castration

    2005, Oct 10; 22:49 ::: List of authors on the index

    This is a list of authors whose work has been on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. The quantity of the work per author varies from complete works to one title.

    The Index by the Catholic church is a handy tool for hedonists, pointing them towards to hidden thoughts and unknown sensations. In fact, any such list is helpful in seeking out special works of art. See for example the list of banned books by the Nazi government in pre-war Germany.

    The list below is by no means complete, I believe that there were localized versions of The Index. My main source for compilation was the link to Fordham below.

    Alberto Moravia - Alexandre Dumas fils - Alexandre Dumas - Anatole France - Andre Gide - Andrew Lang - Balzac - Baruch Spinoza - Benedetto Croce - Bishop Berkeley - Blaise Pascal - Casanova - Condillac - Condorcet - d'Alembert - Daniel Defoe - David Hume - De Stael - Denis Diderot - d'Holbach - Edward Gibbon - Emanuel Swedenborg - Emile Zola - Erasmus - Ernest Renan - Eugene Sue - Francis Bacon - Gabriele D'Annunzio - Galileo Galilei - George Sand - Gustave Flaubert - Heinrich Heine - Helvétius - Henri Bergson - Honore de Balzac - Immanuel Kant - Jean Paul Sartre - Jean-Jacques Rousseau - John Calvin - John Milton - Karl Marx - John Stuart Mill - Jonathan Swift - Joseph Addison - La Fontaine - La Mettrie - Laurence Stern - Maeterlinck - Malebranche - Michel de Montaigne - Montesquieu - Nicholas Machiavelli - Oliver Goldsmith - Pierre Abélard - Rabelais - Rene Descartes - Richard Simon - Richard Steel - Marquis de Sade - Samuel Richardson - Stendhal - Swedenborg - Theodor Hendrik van de Velde - Thomas Hobbes - Victor Hugo - Voltaire

    See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jahsonic#List_of_authors_on_the_index - http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/indexlibrorum.html [Oct 2005]

    See also: Christianity - forbidden - books - cult fiction - cultural criticism - Index Prohibitorum - banned books

    2005, Oct 10; 22:49 ::: Feral House

    Feral House is a publisher of "high quality books on forbidden topics", which means that they publish pulp non-fiction books on the occult, punk rock, cultural criticism, serial killers, kink, and other "cult" topics.

    They were founded by Adam Parfrey in 1989, and are headquartered in Los Angeles.

    See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_House - forbidden - books - cult fiction - cultural criticism

    2005, Oct 10; 22:59 ::: Bad girl art

    Bad girl art, in the world of comic books, is the counterpart of good girl art. Comic book Bad Girls are typically tough and violent superheroines. However, while the Good Girls had their heyday in the 1940s and 1950s, Bad Girl Art had its heyday in the far less widely disseminated comic book market of the 1980s and 1990s. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_girl_art [Oct 2005]

    See also: bad - bad girl movies - art - comics - USA

    2005, Oct 10; 22:59 ::: Vienna before WWI

    Vienna in the years before the First World War was like a laboratory in which the full range of human sexual practices were first investigated, dispassionately described, and understood.

    In the field of medicine, this took place in the research and clinical practice of Richard Krafft-Ebing and Sigmund Freud. In literature, we see it in the plays and novels of Frank Wedekind, Robert Musil and Arthur Schnitzler. And in art, the extraordinary body of work created by Egon Schiele during his brief life belongs at the heart of this rich and fascinating culture. --http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2005/05/11/baschiele11.xml , 2005 [Oct 2005]

    See also: Vienna - WWI

    2005, Oct 10; 16:59 ::: Viennese Modernism

    Vienna Modernism and its place in history
    Intensive academic interest in Vienna Modernism, the artistic and cultural developments of the two decades between 1890 and 1910, started in the 1960s. In the time immediately following the Second World War, artefacts from this period could be acquired on the art market at relatively low prices. Architecture was undoubtedly the discipline which aroused most interest and the appreciation for this fin-de-siècle architecture had been shown even earlier on. The momentum for the booming interest in Vienna Modernism came from abroad, aided greatly by the work of cultural scholars such as Carl E. Schorske, who taught in the United States.

    It is Schorske, in particular, who can be called the pioneer of research into Vienna Modernism. His magnum opus, “Fin-de-Siècle Vienna“, is still a standard reference work on this period. The next phase in the evolution of in-depth research was triggered by the largescale exhibitions on the subject which were organised in the 1980s: Arte in Vienna in Venice (1983), Traum und Wirklichkeit in Vienna (1985) and L’Apocalypse joyeuse in Paris (1986). In all three exhibitions, an enthusiastic public was given insights, through an unusually comprehensive selection of exhibits, into the historical developments and the artistic achievements of the epoch as well as the ensuing trends leading up to 1938.

    Vienna Modernism became the research topic par excellence. The nearer we moved to the end of the 20th century, the more interest centred on the glamour of the era 100 years ago. The question of “How could there be such a concentration of unsurpassed excellence in art and culture in only two decades?” became the decisive question for researchers. It also induced many tentatively to examine the possibility of such a climax reoccurring in our days. Scholars sought and still are seeking to identify the conditions that allowed this “status of excellence”.

    Vienna Modernism and its place in history
    Although scholars agreed that Vienna was not the only place where Modernism achieved sweeping successes, it was still common practice to regard “Vienna as the focal point of European Modernism” (Nautz/Vahrenkamp). Scholars consider that European Modernism reached its purest and most concentrated expression in Vienna at the turn of the century. The foundations of 20th century thought were not created in Vienna alone, but what would this century have been without Freud’s psychoanalysis, without Arnold Schoenberg’s twelve-tone music, without Arthur Schnitzler’s “soul-scapes” or without Gustav Mahler’s music and his interpretation of the music of his contemporaries.

    Even after almost two decades of intensive research, the debate on the status of Vienna Modernism has by no means been concluded. Recent publications, written under the impression of Post-Modernism, which is generally regarded as the outcome of a crisis, convey a different picture of Modernism. For the French Germanist Jacques Le Rider Modernism also contains aspects of uprooting and crisis. Le Rider calls it the crisis of liberalism, the crisis of masculinity and the crisis of Jewish identity. After the stock-exchange crash of 1873, liberalism – to which all the major proponents of Vienna Modernism were committed – had lost ground and had been ousted from power by the political parties for the masses. Men were put into a state of uncertainty both by the ideas of the theoretician of matriarchy, Bachofen, who prophesied that there would be a clearly noticeable return to the feminine element in culture, and by the vehemently expressed striving for emancipation of a contemporaneous women’s movement. The reaction was a hatred of women in all shades and colours. The crisis of Jewish identity was a product of the constantly increasing anti-Semitism of the German- Nationals and Christian-Socials.

    It was also during the era of Vienna Modernism that crisis was accepted as an element of development, as a potential way of life. More recently, scholars have ceased to believe in continuous progress, in the final achievement of harmonious uniformity in some far-away future. They have begun to consider the conscious acceptance and appreciation of diversity, contradiction and heterogeneity as valuable in their own right. This changed outlook is also a lesson drawn from what has been experienced in the history of the 20th century.

    Not only are findings formulated more precisely now, the focus of research is also increasingly placed on the Viennese phenomenon of multi-culturality and on the coexistence of highly contradictory mindsets. After all, Modernism met with severe resistance on the part of conservative contemporaries. At any rate, the discussion on Modernism in Vienna is obviously going to continue for a while yet, which can only benefit the exploration of the many areas which have not yet been adequately studied and documented. --http://bkacms.bka.gv.at/2004/4/29/modernism.pdf [Oct 2005]

    See also: Vienna - modernism

    2005, Oct 10; 14:59 ::: Ornament and crime

    "the contemporary man who scribbles on walls as a way of obeying an interior need is either a criminal or a degenerate."

    “for people affected by such a degeneration, this need most violently occurs in lavatories"

    “one can measure the cultural degree of a country by the amount of scribble in its lavatories."

    "The man of our day who, in response to an inner urge, smears the wall with erotic symbols is a criminal or a degenerate. A country's culture can be assessed by the extent to which its lavatory walls are smeared. The evolution of culture is synonymous with the removal of ornament from utilitarian objects....We have outgrown ornament; we fought our way through to freedom from ornament. Soon the streets of the city will glisten like white walls. The modern man who holds ornament sacred as a sign of the artistic super-abundance of past ages will immediately recognize the tortured, strained, and morbid quality of modern ornaments." via http://www.simeon-nelson.com/MappaMundi/MappaMundi.html [Oct 2005]

    Ornament and Crime is an essay written by the influential and self-consciously "modern" Austrian architect Adolf Loos in 1908, that was translated into English in 1913, under its challenging title. "The evolution of culture marches with the elimination of ornament from useful objects" Loos proclaimed, linking the optimistic sense of the linear and upward progress of cultures with the contemporary vogue for applying evolution to cultural contexts. In the essay Loos' "passion for smooth and precious surfaces" informs his expressed philosophy that ornamentation can have the effect of causing objects to go out of style and thus become obsolete. It struck him that it was a crime to waste the effort needed to add ornamentation when the ornamentation would cause the object to soon go out of style. Loos introduced a sense of the "immorality" of ornament, describing it as "degenerate", its suppression as necessary for regulating modern society. He took as one of his examples the tatooing of the "Papuan" and the intense surface decorations of the objects about him; Loos considers the Papuan not to have evolved to the moral and civilized circumstances of modern man, who, should he tatoo himself, would either be considered a criminal or a degenerate.

    The essay was written just at the moment when the Art Nouveau Loos had execrated even at its height in 1900, was securely passé; it important in articulating some moralizing views,, inherited from the Arts and Crafts movement, which would be fundamental to the Bauhaus design studio, and helped define the ideology of Modernism in architecture. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornament_and_Crime [Oct 2005]

    See also: decorative - 1908 - Vienna - modernism - architecture - modern architecture - crime - design

    2005, Oct 10; 14:59 ::: Culture

    High culture
    • Interest in creative process and symbolism
    • Preference for experimentation
    • Introspection preferred to action
    • Accepts different levels of meaning
    • Expects consideration of philosophical, psychological and social issues
    Upper middle culture
    • A less literary verbal culture
    • Figurative and narrative art preferred, especially if illustrative of individual achievement or upward mobility
    • Enjoys nineteenth-century art and opera, but not early music or contemporary art
    Lower middle culture
    • Form must unambiguously express meaning
    • Demands conclusions
    • Unresolvable conflicts not made explicit
    • Interested in performers, not writers or directors
    • Influenced by word-of-mouth judgement
    Low culture
    • No concern with abstract ideas: form must be entirely subservient to content
    • Demands crude morality with dramatic demarcations, but usually limited to family or individual problems
    • Performer is paramount: enjoys vicarious contact with 'stars'
    • Considers ornateness attractive

    Adapted from Herbert J. Gans (1974) by Stephen Bayley (1991)

    See also: culture - Herbert J. Gans - Stephen Bayley - high - low

    2005, Oct 10; 14:59 ::: Bad design

    “The School of Bad Designs,” from Punch, September 1845. A humorous observation on the practices at the Government School of Design at Somerset House
    Image sourced here.

    Although the collections’ origins can be traced to the Great Exhibition of 1851, the British Government’s primary purpose in granting public money for the promotion of science and art was not the accumulation and display of objects. Parliamentary frugality was overcome by the argument that the manufacturing population needed training in design, so that Britain would thereby be better equipped to outdistance her international rivals.

    The Museum quickly took on a separate didactic function of its own, particularly with the inclusion of a room devoted to the exposition of “False Principles in Decoration” (see cats. 19–20). These events gave a new direction to the educational venture in its broadest sense and signaled a bold decision to use the collections to foster public taste quite apart from the purposes of applied industrial instruction.

    Thus, the labels for tinned peaches (cat. 21) exhibited in the early part of the twentieth century in many ways echo the sort of comparative display made famous by the “chamber of horrors” (as the 1852 “False Principles” installation was colloquially described). By focusing on the mundane and burying individuality in type (see cat. 30), this sort of display avoided the pitfall of subordinating the didactic purpose of collecting to the purely acquisitive one. --http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1159_grand_design/essay-teaching-by-example_new.html [Oct 2005]

    The Great Exhibition
    The Great Exhibition was an international exhibition held in Hyde Park London, from 1 May to 15 October 1851 and the first in a series of World's Fair exhibitions of culture and industry that were to be a popular 19th century feature. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Exhibition [Oct 2005]

    See also: 1851 - bad - design

    2005, Oct 10; 14:59 ::: Der Kitsch. Eine Studie über die Entartung der Kunst (1925) - Fritz Karpfen

    See also: kitsch

    2005, Oct 10; 12:59 ::: Nakedhippies.blogspot pictures

    A dictionary of hippie lingo with lots of drug slang circa 1966

    A promotional card for Just Jaeckin's Story of O film

    A promotional card for unidentified film
    Images sourced here.

    Revisit the 1960's free love sexual revolution or experience hippy sex for the very first time. My Naked Hippies Web Journal has tons of farout groovy links & pics of natural hairy hippie chicks, vintage hardcore straight & lesbian sixties sex & a bygone era of free love. Written by a true hippie who was there, lived it, loved it, and wants to share it with the world. This hippie blog is for adults only! --promotional tag from Naked Hippies & Free Love via http://www.nakedhippies.blogspot.com

    See also: naked - free love - hippy - groovy

    2005, Oct 10; 12:59 ::: Modern art and the general public

    As soon as painters and sculptors ceased to communicate with people and chose instead to create commodities of debatable artistic interest exclusively for dealers and museums, it was inevitable that the public would take its aesthetic pleasures where it could find them: in the styling of cars, the cinema and in popular culture. --Stephen Bayley (1991)

    See also: aesthetics - car - cinema - popular culture

    2005, Oct 10; 12:45 ::: New image galleries

    nude - music - fashion - popular - art - architecture - erotica - erotica 2 - film - photography - fiction - human - genre - taste - culture - underground - history - exploitation - design - groovy - horror - fantastique - grotesque -

    2005, Oct 10; 11:45 ::: Intertextuality in Pop Culture

    Intertextuality is almost omnipresent today in modern popular culture as it resonates with a young audience which is renowned for its cynicism.

    Intertextuality occurs frequently in popular media such as television shows, movies, novels and even interactive video games. In these cases, intertextuality is often used to provide depth to the fictional reality portrayed in the medium, such as characters in one television show mentioning characters from another. Fox Television's The O.C. is a perfect example of television using intertextuality, with its frequent references to comic book and movie characters such as Spiderman and Star Wars protagonist Luke Skywalker.

    Notable examples of intertexuality include the animated series Futurama, Family Guy, and The Simpsons which are almost entirely dependent on intertextual references as a source of humor. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intertextuality [Oct 2005]

    See also: intertextuality - text - popular culture

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