After I woke up last thursday morning with a fossilized brain in a cantankerous mood I puked my guts out and expected to stay in bed with bottles of water and and a pile of magazines for at least 36 hours. Instead another lavish visual weekend was about to commence. First off I saw Coco Before Chanel at the Ritzy, a film I've wanted to see for a while. I thought it was ok, but can't recommend it to anyone who's not really interested enough in Chanel's life and work. It's easy to recognize how her early life has driven her to become the fashion pioneer that has inspired millions of us, and Tatou was a too easy pick for the lead role, being the talented petite fransaize that she is. But the storyline itself has too many little sub-plots going on that lack development and tension building. Also Chanel's affair with Capel is not convincing enough. Shame on you, Anne Fontaine. You have not stirred my emotions which is really not such a difficult task to do. You get one chance to make a portrait La Chanel and you fuck it up. Putain. I'm loving that poster though.
It's good to know people who have friends who know people that can get you backstage at musical events. I was taken to an opera festival in Hammersmith that offered contemporary experimental pieces in progress ranging from individual 5 minute lasting lighthearted intermezzos on location to heavier 1 hour lasting pieces. Amongst the highlights of the festival were 'Ride' by Osmat Schmool. This is a developing part of 'Drive Ride Walk', it's about love and the familiar movements in the lives of a group of young Londoners. 'Wallen', co-created an performed by brother and sister Errolyn and Byron Wallen. This very personal piece that brings together genres like classical and jazz is performed against a backdrop of images that takes the audience on a journey to Belize (their country of origin), London and New York; crucial marking places in the Wallens personal and professional lives. Their unconventional upbringing forced them to re-define and challenge notions of belonging, distance and boundaries, which makes for beautiful music. Another very intense interesting piece in progress that definitely has the potential to evoke obscure emotions was 'As I Have Now Memoyre' by Nicholas Brown. It concerns the relationship between the condition of the body and the sounds it produces. This project examines the effect of physiological changes upon a singer's psychology over the course of many years. It involves installations and the audience is free to roam around amongst the props. Very liberating! I had the freedom to take photographs and stage photography was something I'd never really done before, so forgive the amateurism ;)
And after that there were the substance fuelled semiotic discussions about 'Gayniggers from outer Space'...
and 'Salo, or the 120 days of Sodom'. That film still sends shivers down my spine but I can't get enough of Pasolini.
Speaking of perversity, check out this exciting blog I found. The author of the essay 'Horror Pangyric' (good read) speaks of a book called 'The Motherfuckers: The Auschwitz of Oz'
"This thing," I thought to myself, "out-Burroughs Burroughs." It did something I did not think possible: it carried the Boschian method of Naked Lunch to a new extreme, and it did that with exceedingly controversial subject matter. I almost didn't know what to make of it. Was this book an explosive new entry in the contemporary literary game? Or the feverish rapture of some British mind fucked up by the Blitz?
A novel that out-Burroughs Burroughs eh? That's a mouthfull... x
"This thing," I thought to myself, "out-Burroughs Burroughs." It did something I did not think possible: it carried the Boschian method of Naked Lunch to a new extreme, and it did that with exceedingly controversial subject matter. I almost didn't know what to make of it. Was this book an explosive new entry in the contemporary literary game? Or the feverish rapture of some British mind fucked up by the Blitz?
A novel that out-Burroughs Burroughs eh? That's a mouthfull... x
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