Fenster writes:
Nice to know in this day and age of eroding trust in institutions that one institution continues to be held in high esteem. It is:
the public library.
Granted the Atlantic article that this chart comes from concedes it is not super-scientific. But it is probably on to something.
This is what happens when you let 12 year olds take out Bound.
Fabrizio del Wrongo writes:
Released in 1957, “Untamed” is an episodic account of a woman’s semi-voluntary trudge towards independence, one that uses the Westernization of Japan as its backdrop. (It’s set during the Taisho period of the early 20th century.) Hideko Takamine — probably Japan’s greatest movie actress — plays the central character, Oshima, as a woman whose lingering adolescence is all mixed up with her moxie; at times it’s not clear whether her willfulness is an outgrowth of immaturity or the result of some deeper drive towards unconventionality. Takamine makes good use of her experience as a child star — she was known as Japan’s Mary Pickford — by allowing hints of the moppet to leak through the adult facade. As she becomes more self-sufficient (and more elegantly coiffed), her mien grows steelier, but it’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment at which the girl disappears. Spread over a years-long narrative, with little padding to separate the individual episodes, the performance is like a series of variations, albeit a constrained one; it reminded me of Takamine’s great turn in “Floating Clouds,” but with the peaks and valleys lopped off.
Fenster writes:
I missed Movember so when I woke up today sporting a four-day stubble I told my wife to chalk it up to Becember rather than sloth. Then I donned my heavy zip up sweatshirt popular with the construction crowd and went out to pick up some things at the local Trader Joe’s.
I didn’t look the part. People like to look good at TJ’s, maybe because it is a good pick up spot for the upper middle class. But I wasn’t looking for action, just coffee and some 19 cent bananas, and so ventured in looking like I was not from the neighborhood.
Paleo Retiree writes:
Very enjoyable small-scale independent teen noir from 2007, played for straightfaced intensity rather than exploitation or yuks. Jonathan Tucker is an arty richkid screwup who’s drawn to Nikki Reed, a dark-haired, witchy charmer from the wrong side of the tracks. Which lover is more in charge of the relationship? Which one can go farther than the other? Darned-good-scene follows darned-good-scene.
The film features a more-than-adequate plot; a fun and game cast; a lot of wickedly self-interested, amoral characters; a shrewd understanding of money, privilege, and class (especially about how the privileged prepare the next generation); and an effectively eerie and sexy mood. It belongs in the same bin as such kids-acting-like-grownups pix as “Brick,” “Cruel Intentions” and “Wild Things.” If it lacks those films’ glossiness and camp, it features loads of determination, psychology, and conviction in their place. Written and directed by Rochester, NY’s Nicholas DiBella, and shot in HD in and around Rochester by an almost-entirely-Rochester-based crew, it’s a very effective and resourceful suspense picture with many poetic and daring touches. “Cherry Crush” left me feeling upbeat, and not just because I enjoyed it as a movie. It also made me feel optimistic about something many filmbuffs have dreamed about: the possibility of a genuine regional feature-film-making culture taking shape. Power to the provinces, baby.
Related
Blowhard, Esq. writes:
Everyone else is doing end-of-the-year recaps, so I thought I’d join the chorus of noise and share mine. I included all of the Teaching Company stuff I listened to even though they’re not technically books because hey, it’s my list and I’ll do what I want.
Fenster writes:
Back when CD burning came in, I would often make up mixtapes complete with liner notes to give as gifts. Then one day I thought to make up a package. The music consisted of Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration and the Strauss song At Twilight, which references it in a closing passage. Then I added to the package an excellent discussion of the main work by Robert Greenberg, available from The Teaching Company.
The liner notes are below, followed by YouTubes of the music, though listening on a real sound system is preferable. I’d like to include the Greenberg lecture, and if I can lay my hands on it, I will post.
Fenster writes:
Umami:
No umami:
Eddie Pensier writes:
Leonardo da Vinci’s original, in the Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie, Milan.
The Sesame Street version (click image to enlarge):
The Star Wars version (click image to enlarge):
The Sopranos version (click image to enlarge):
The Big Lebowski version (click image to enlarge):
All (and dozens more) via PoppedCulture.
Blowhard, Esq. writes:
Click on the image to enlarge.
Academy Theater in Inglewood, CA, 1940. Photograph by Julius Shulman.
Fenster writes:
Progress:
Prog”ress n. [L. progressus, from progredi, p. p. progressus, to go forth or forward]
1. A moving or going forward; a proceeding onward; an advance; specifically: (a) In actual space, as the progress of a ship, carriage, etc. (b) In the growth of an animal or plant; increase. (c) In business of any kind; as, the progress of a negotiation; the progress of art. (d) In knowledge; in proficiency; as, the progress of a child at school. (e) Toward ideal completeness or perfection in respect of quality or condition; — applied to individuals, communities, or the race; as, social, moral, religious, or political progress.
2. The valuable by-product of the slow accretion of predominantly incorrect ideas.
Blowhard, Esq.
Callowman
Sherbrooke
Eddie Pensier
Enzo Nakamura
Epaminondas
Fabrizio del Wrongo
Fenster
Brundle Guy
Glynn Marshes
Paleo Retiree
Atypical Neurotic
Question Lady
Sax von Stroheim
Sir Barken Hyena
The Mistaken
Uncouth Reflections 