July 15th, 2010 by Bill
I’ve returned to Cioran recently. His essay on de Maistre in Anathemas and Admirations contains some of the most beautiful and intelligent lines I’ve read in months. The essay itself is a model of bemused, respectfully hostile criticism. Bits of Cioran the aphorist are undeniably precious, but there is value there. He was the real thing.
An aside- Badger may recall with me the Romanian gentlemen who would spend hours on the patio of the bookstore in Baton Rouge smoking and yelling at each other. I miss those guys, and feel somehow responsible for the fact that our pre-fabbed version of cafe culture was so woefully inadequate. The romantic, excitable temperaments that shone from those gentlemen deserved more than that cheap furniture on a slab of concrete surrounded by Walmart, Petsmart, fast food joints, etc etc.
Tags: belief, Cioran, God, Romanians, some fucking awesome old bald dude
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July 6th, 2010 by Bill
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June 29th, 2010 by Bill
Website here.
The collaged bits along the right side of the canvas (found objects), though not really visible in this image, make the painting.
Tags: MS Museum of Art
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June 27th, 2010 by Bill
From this article on Larry David (which didn’t have the stones or the critical acumen to say that Woody Allen’s Whatever Works was probably one of the worst movies ever made):
In the US, reruns of Curb Your Enthusiasm are about to begin airing for the first time on a mainstream cable channel, requiring the cast to record new dialogue to be dubbed in over the show’s copious swearing. (“You say ‘freak’ for ‘fuck’ and ‘shoot’ for ‘shit’ and ‘baloney’ for ‘bullshit’, or whatever fits the movement of your lips,” David says.) Perhaps in an effort to convey the David world-view to a wider audience, each episode will be followed by a 10-minute panel discussion to contemplate the “issues” raised by the show.
The issues? That makes it all sound rather studious. “Just the issues,” David says. “Like, finding out your doctor is gay and then going up to him and saying, ‘I didn’t know you were gay!’ – is that a bad thing to do? Why is it bad? Is it OK to tell a blind person his girlfriend is unattractive, or should you pretend she’s attractive?” For a moment, he looks almost entirely serious – deadpan bordering on dead earnest – as though we have finally penetrated through to the questions in life that really matter. “You know. Things like that.”
Tags: WTF
Posted in film, television | 1 Comment »
June 6th, 2010 by Bill
Today.
This is rushed, and I’m finding it hard to say what I want to say. I’m saddened in part because he went out like so many of the giants in his books–broke, underappreciated. His commonplace book aesthetic, the assemblage technique that built and built until something more than the sum of those lines, those facts, hovered over/nested under the text was called experimental and marginalized. But few books read more quickly than his assemblage novels. Few books repay rereading as generously.
Anecdotes he shared in interviews–the role he played in getting Gaddis’ The Recognitions reissued in paperback, etc. His generosity. The absolute lack of pretension in him. All of this will be missed. R.I.P.
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May 13th, 2010 by paledave
A shortish novel from 1935. Kubrick saw a theatrical version of it when he was a kid, and it evidently stayed with him. For those who don’t know the story or film, three French WWI soldiers are scapegoated for an ill-fated executive decision; an attempt to capture an impregnable location leads to doom. The out-of touch chain-of-command pins the failure on its own troops, who pay the price for the mistakes of their superiors.
It’s a great novel. Descriptive passages are richly detailed, the plot moves along as you know it should, and Cobb’s hatred of not only war but of the higher-ups that force it comes through with a bite. It might have been OTT for 1935, but it plays very well today. If there is a flaw with the film, it’s a little top-heavy; you’re more interested in the corrupt brass than in the lower classes of soldiers. In the book all things are equal. There are minor differences too: in the book the Kirk Douglas character sleeps through the court-martial.
Humphrey Cobb appears to have been a curious case. He died young. This was his only book. He did a stint in Hollywood, and the research I’ve done infers that he was a hack otherwise. Also, Faulkner admitted, grudgingly, that A Fable borrowed elements from Paths Of Glory.
Recommended.
Tags: Humphrey Cobb
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May 10th, 2010 by badger
A gentleman has fooled around with Google Earth allow a user to overlay the current size of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill over several preset areas, like Manhattan, San Francisco, and several other places. One can input other locations well. (For any of it to work, the Google Earth plug-in must be installed.)
I knew that the spill was massive and devastating, but seeing these overlays makes just a little bit more grim. And that area is from around May 2nd. Check it out now.
Tags: Deepwater Horizon, Louisiana, oil
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May 10th, 2010 by badger
Architectural Association site has a 70 minute video of Tom McCarthy discussing the relation between literature and film.
I haven’t watched it yet, and won’t be until next week perhaps, as this week is my finals week. Bill sent it to me two weeks ago, but i’ve been distracted.
Update: Have it running in background as i mess with Tech Writing assignment. It’s mostly readings from Remainder. Carry on.
Tags: Architectural Association, Tom McCarthy
Posted in books, film, video | 1 Comment »
May 10th, 2010 by badger
A pressurized water system, operating a fountain, has been identified at Palenque site in Mexico. It’s Mayan and the Palenque site was inhabited between 100 AD and 800 AD. The article seems to state that no other examples of this kind of engineering are known in the Americas that date before the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century.
Tags: Mayan, Mexico, Palenque
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