‘Frans Zwartjes is arguably Holland’s pre-eminent experimental filmmaker. His highly stylised, poetically claustrophobic films achieve a unique level of sensual intimacy in their renditions of sexual and domestic tension, and voyeurism. Most famous for a prolific series of short films created in the 1960s and ’70s including Spectator (1970) and Living (1971), Zwartjes conjured up oppressively private worlds defined by the compulsions of his heavily made-up, fastidiously dressed (or undressed) performers. These wordless works draw on performance art but are equally distinguished by their oneiric visuals, disconcerting editing rhythms and hypnotically minimal sound design. Their expressively grainy visual textures emerge from uncomfortable close-ups and distorted angles, a transcendentally voyeuristic camera that prowls and clings to the figures it films. Yet this vision seems more engaged with the external projection of inner turmoil than the objectification of bodies and, as such, is imbued with its own unnerving compassion.
‘Although his films are widely available in digital formats, this celebration of Zwartjes’s art is a rare opportunity to see them in their original 16mm format. These films are essentially handmade, homemade objects. He devised and mastered a filmmaking technique every bit as personal as the scenes he filmed. He frequently cast the same performers including his wife Trix, Moniek Toebosch, and even himself. He did the camerawork himself, and his complex, astonishingly assured visual rhythms are the result of cutting in-camera, essentially turning the camera on and off during shooting instead of editing afterwards. He even went as far as to process the films himself to obtain the look he was seeking. Only 16mm projection can do this vision full justice.
‘Zwartjes’s background as a musician is one of his many talents (he is also a painter, sculptor, teacher and violin maker) that is perhaps not mentioned enough. The striking sound design of his films, hypnotically accentuating the prevalent mood of mounting psychosis, is one of their most accomplished features.’ — Maximilian Le Cain
Q: The person making ordinary films in the Netherlands works within a context: you can see a certain filmmaker as an inspiring model or you can dismiss him to try to do it your own way. Did you have a context like that?
FZ: What made a huge impression on me was the New American Cinema. The municipal theatre in Eindhoven presented a new American film program in the early 1960s. For the first time I was able to see films by Bruce Connor, by Markopolous, by that fatso… Peter Kubelka and by Andy Warhol. I thought: Jeesus Christ, what’s going on! In The Shopper by Warhol, the camera is first pointed at the ceiling and then sinks downwards, but you can feel that it was not done by hand. The bolt at the top of the tripod wasn’t screwed tight. The camera sinks down by itself, splendidly. While the camera keeps on shooting, you can meanwhile hear someone talking. The protagonist just keeps on going. The crazy thing is that I started to be irritated by the film after a little while and I went out to get a drink. I must have gone back and forth ten times and each time that I opened the door to have another look, I thought, damn it all, it’s awfully good! Those screenings had a big influence on me.
Q: You developed your films by yourself in your home laboratory.
FZ: Yeah although… actually it was a cupboard. When I got my first little film back from the laboratory, I thought it looked like garbage. I went back to the lab, that was the NLF back then and said: “I want to develop my own material.” The man opened a drawer and handed me a sheet. I looked at it: R36, Agfa. It had instructions for reversal development. He immediately took hold of one more sheet, one which the address was written of Brocades in Amsterdam. You could buy chemicals there.
He also told me which was the cheapest material: Agfa’s 5-61. That was what they made their prints on. An incredibly straight curve and very, very slow: six ASA. You had to make your shots in the sun in order to be able to see something later on. It came in rolls of three hundred meters. In my darkroom, I cut them up into rolls of 30 meters that would fit in my camera. You get really strange things: perforations on the wrong side, or losing hold of the roll and everything falling apart. Then you’re up shit creek. But I always managed. After a while, I became very skilled at developing. I could develop 300 meters a day. Film on Saturday, watch on Sunday. I had students who asked me how I developed that black-and-white. I explained everything, but they still gave up. Because even if you’ve got instructions you’re not there yet. What’s important is how the material is exposed and how warm it is and how long you leave it in the developer. It’s something you’ve got to twig to. You only learn by doing it, really.
Q: Who did you show your own work to?
FZ: I didn’t know anyone!
Q: Did you not have any contacts with other Dutch filmmakers?
FZ: Of the “regular” filmmakers, only Pim de la Parra came to me and said, “You’ve got to apply for some government money. You shouldn’t be paying for those films yourself, are you out of your mind? I’ll help you.” That didn’t really happen, but still… And Johan van der Keuken. They aced normally. All the rest thought my films were strange, very unprofessional tomfoolery. But they couldn’t escape the fact that Living (1971) was something to reckon with. I heard that later from Bert Haanstra. When I was working at the violin maker, Marree’s studio, he came around. He had been given equipment by The Hague. Given! Lenses and a body and some other things: 35mm equipment. He asked if we would make a case for them. That’s how I came into contact with him. And when later on I started to make a film with a friend about the war wounded in Guinea-Bissau, I looked upper Bert. He immediately said, “Wonderful! A documentary, there’s something we understand at least.” He told me they had wanted to give me the National Prize for Living, but they went and gave it to Ed van der Elsken because he needed money. Ed sold me the Cook lens around that time, the wide-angle that I used so much. Money problems, I guess. It was a 5.7, high quality. I wanted the widest possible angle without it being a fisheye.
Q: There is a great deal of eroticism and there are many distorted power relationships in your films. Do you learn anything about yourself by watching your own films?
FZ: According to Trix, I’ve have never been as clear about myself as I am in my films. But I didn’t not see that at all when I was making them. I didn’t interpret those films. Others did, but what they said was often beside the point. I can still remember a screening – Trix and Monique Toeboesch were sitting on a bench in the film – and you know what someone said to me? “Say, I didn’t know that you wife was a lesbian. How terrible for you!” An adult man said that, a family doctor. I explained: “We’re just making a film, you know.” He acted a bit angry, “Look, you can see it too… Take a look!” I said, “I don’t see anything. I certainly don’t see that.”
I can remember Pentimento (1978) being screened in Rotterdam. The theatre was full of feminists saying I should be done away with. “It should be against the law that ever receive another cent!” And wherever that film was shown, they stormed the projection room in groups of ten, grabbed the projector and pitched it into the street, film and all. That happened a couple of times.
Q: Did that upset you?
FZ: No, something I like a lot less is when, for instance, I expect a really strong effect from a scene an right at that moment I see people leaving the movie theatre… If you don’t see anything at all, and you stand up… that’s… Well, that’s not really irritating but it leave me feeling awfully helpless. It’s just like when someone says, “Well, you know you that Bach’s compositions are just repeating fractions.”
Q: What is your own favourite film?
FZ: In my opinion Spare Bedroom (1970) and Living (1971) have a peculiar indefinable atmosphere. That quirky fidgeting and then the whimpering of the music… When I last saw the film I thought: how did I ever come up with that? I would never be able to do it again now.
_________________ 11 of Frans Zwartjes’ 45 films
_________________ Sorbet III (1968) ‘A man in drag reaches for some sorbet and then eats it.’— letterboxd
the entirety
_________ Birds (1968) ‘Hypnotic, repetitive film featuring Trix, Zwartjes’ regular partner in crime – and in life. The second ‘turtle dove’ is a piece of a toy between her fingers. Even before Structuralist film had really found its mojo, Zwartjes made this ironic deconstruction of the watch-the-birdie principle.’— IFFR
the entirety
__________ A Fan (1968) ‘A man in drag sits on a couch holding a fan. The wallpaper behind him is floral patterned. Although the man does little more than looking around and waving his fan, Zwartjes created enormous tension.’— letterboxd
the entirety
______________ Visual Training (1969) ‘Oppressive black-and-white study of a man in pale makeup surrendering as apathetically as a zombie from a German Expressionist film to primitive, childlike playing with food. Possibly inspired by Viennese Actionism and the mythopoetic American underground, Zwartjes more than once ventured into orgiastic territory.’— iffr
the entirety
_______________ Spare Bedroom (1969) ‘Two sombre personages who are engaged in a claustrophobic game of attraction and repulsion.’— MUBI
the entirety
______________ Anamnesis (1969) ‘Film in three parts in which a man and a woman, Zwartjes’ regular actors Trix and Lodewijk de Boer, circle around each other, both in the house and outside beside the water, repelling and attracting each other.’— LUX
the entirety
______________ Spectator (1970) ‘This 1970 film from the experimental filmmaker tackled the concept of the image as an object of the ultimate expression of desire.’— Nowness
the entirety
______________ Behind Your Walls (1970) ‘As he does more often, Zwartjes creates an intoxicating, surreal microcosm – this time through a bizarre pantomime featuring extras in heavy make-up. A great example of how the experimental filmmaker was able to unorthodoxly forge colour and black-and-white, silence and an eclectic audio mix into a lyrical poem.’— iffr
the entirety
___________ Living (1971) ‘Frans Zwartjes and his wife explore their new home, and the sexual tension they’ve brought with them to it.’— letterboxd
the entirety
____________ Bedsitters (1974) ‘Bedsitters takes place on the landing and the stairs of Zwartjes’ still-new, empty house in The Hague. The filmmaker evokes a mysterious and complex space by using a ‘floating’ camera to film some creeping and mysterious characters. Even when Zwartjes himself appears in the frame, the camera continues to float. The fluid movements and a substantial wide-angle lens turn the house into a building that defies logic.’— Eye
the entirety
_____________ Pentimento (1979) ‘This film is dominated by an icy blue. In a monumental building a group of scientists submit women to obscure and inhuman experiments, in which sexuality and cruelty constantly merge into one another. When the film was released, this horrifying game of power and powerlessness was condemned severely by a militant group of feminists. The criticism was undeserved. After all, ‘Pentimento’ is an art-historical term for a hidden image underneath the actual image giving an indication of how the latter evolved to its current state. The film does not endorse the lopsided power relations in our world but actually challenges them.’— The Uncomfort Zone
the entirety
*
p.s. Hey. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. I think I’ve seen that Myers/Smith Daley film now that you mention it. Hm. Great that you heard from your friends. What a relief. ** _Black_Acrylic, I so agree with you quite clearly! You and your family look as snug as a bug in a rug, as my grandmother used to say. ** Dominik, Hi! Oh, that’s cool. That the post hit your Dorian Electraized pleasure center. It is a strangely good time for rebirth or rethinking your life or something. It’s lucky timing. When I see and hear so many people just stressing out and feeling terrorised, I feel very lucky to just see it as a hassle. The cyber-meeting with Gisele and Zac got postponed until tomorrow afternoon. The TV project, that script, is absolutely cursed. There’s no other explanation. Which is why I’m very, very wary about continuing it with this feature film idea. But … we’ll see. Nice you’re reading that Blake Butler book. He’s great. I’m reading things but having a heck of a time concentrating on them, so I guess I’m more stressed out than I feel like I am. Cool you’re keeping a journal. I’ve loved the periods when I managed to. I liked the Tarantino. I thought it was a lot of fun. I don’t think it’s his best film or anything, but if you like his stuff in general, I think you’ll enjoy it. My day was okay. I was getting a bit panicky because I was running out cigarettes, and all the tabac shops near me are closed, and yesterday I ventured further away seeking smokes and couldn’t find a single open tabac shop except one in the Gare Austerlitz train station, but the police wouldn’t let me enter the station without a train ticket, and I did start to freak out a bit, but I miraculously finally saw a lit up, triangular red ‘tabac’ sign off in the distance, so I was saved. That is not an exciting story in the slightest, but that’s what passes for excitement in my life at the moment, ha ha. How did your four walls and brother and notebook and screen and etc. entertain you today? ** Steve Erickson, Hi. Weird, the DE timing. Last night I would have been seeing Lee “Scratch” Perry live for the first time in my life, and tonight I would have been seeing Yves Tumor live also for the first time in my life. Grr. Everyone, God knows you need things to fill your time, and here’s a gilded opportunity aka Mr. Erickson reviewing Zebra Katz’s debut album LESS IS MOOR right about here. ** Misanthrope, I know all about something weird in the brain. High gloved five. As I told Dominick, I spent part of yesterday desperately seeking smokes and finally scored a carton, and it felt like winning the lottery. We have lines outside markets but sparsely populated interiors and totally full shelves. Very best wishes to your friend and her family. And to you and yours, duh. ** Bill, I think that Coil box is going for a King’s ransom these days. When and, ugh, if they reopen the bookstores, your scenario will likely be the scenario for a long, long time. Pivoting is a blessing. Usually. Very cool. Yes, please do let me know where and how I can watch your gig glitch-free when it’s time. As happy a Wednesday to you as the imaginary man upstairs can allow. ** Okay. If you don’t know the beautiful films of Frans Zwartjes you are in for a great time around here today. See you tomorrow.
Urgent! German Satanic Sensation Targets U.S. and Canada! Be Prepared! by gus
THIS SHIT IS COMING FULL CIRCLE NOW. THE SEPARATION OF THE CHAFF FROM THE GRAIN HAS BEGUN. THERE ARE THOSE WHO WILL FOLLOW SATAN, AND THOSE WHO WILL FOLLOW CHRIST. THE SIGNS ARE EVERYWHERE. THE ANTICHRIST ENERGY IS INCARNATING HERE ON EARTH THROUGH BILL KAULITZ, AND PEOPLE WILL ACCEPT HIM AS THE MESSIAH OF THE NEW AGE. NATURALLY, THE AC WILL ALSO INCARNATE AS AN INDIVIDUAL BECAUSE WHERE THERE IS AN ENERGY FIELD, THERE IS A SINGULARITY SUSTAINING THAT FIELD. BILL KAULITZ HAS THE ‘LOOK’ AND THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ANTICHRIST RETURNING AS A ROCK STAR.
He appears to be genetically engineered. Anunnaki ? Nephilim? He really looks engineered to look so “cute” that no girl in this planet will be able to resist. He is abnormally skinny , almost like he was designed to look like a woman.
The FAKE androgynous look is the give away. There is also a lot of satanic themes in Tokio Hotel’s music and video clips! The dark-looking satanic female archetype. It’s an artificial beauty, very attractive. It tries to emulate the androgynous look, though it’s still a genderized body .. this is the biggest deception. On the surface it has feminine beauty, but in reality it is still an imperfect being, a carrier of duality (both sexes non-unified, fused). So, is this the new symbol they are trying to shove down our throats, in alliance with the robotic agenda? This band “Tokio Hotel” is clearly in hands with the Illuminati. I’ve watched two music clips from them: one was about suicidal tendencies and the other depicts robots kissing each other -> satanic agenda for the robotization of humans and humanization of robots. It’s all over the place.
Started by a pair of twins when they were barely seven, the band’s original name was Devilish. This is probably due to youthful enthusiasm and as they matured they decided to be more deceitful about their true intentions and changed it … Barely eighteen, both twins have been covered for years in piercings (deliberately inflicted holes in various body parts) and tattoos they got by defying their elders, and have boasted getting drunk with the child welfare office, being wanted by the army, destroying private property, and taking the virginity of countless young girls, all before they graduated high school. Most sinister is that none of these girls were ever heard from again, as if the earth swallowed them up after they got too close to the hellish twins.
YOU’RE LAUGHING NOW, BUT YOU WILL BE THE FIRST TO GO DOWN IN FLAMES!
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‘BRDG is Tokyo based collective project for audiovisual expression leaded by producer Yasushi Fukuzawa. We cultivate the network of visual artists, musician, programmer, engineers and designers to expand creative environment of Tokyo, the city where the edge & the pop coexists. Our mission is to organize showcase events in various forms with advanced technologies like multichannel audiovisuals, projection mapping, VR holograms etc that maximize and diversify audiovisual expression, and above all to produce MVs with creaters around us.
SyncBody Video: Daihei Shibata Artwork: Hiroshi Sato
Hallelujah VIDEO : Yuki Kubo MUSIC : Ryu Konno + NOEL-KIT
Dream Land Video : Kota Yamaji Music : nanonum feat coppe
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‘On a regular day, Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven wore brightly colored makeup, postage stamps on each cheek, and a shaved head shellacked in various hues. Her accoutrements also included live birds, packs of dogs, a tomato-can bra, arms full of bangles, and flashing lights. Her unconventionally forthright poetry and rugged found-object sculptures—often incorporated into her outfits—unsettled social hierarchy and accepted gender norms, and distinctions between art and life. The Baroness was a dynamo in New York’s literary and art scene at the turn of the century, part of the Arensberg Salon group that included Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Beatrice Wood, Francis Picabia, Mina Loy, and many others. She combined sculpture, fashion, poetry, and performance to embody an anti-bourgeois lifestyle driven by passion and an emotional reactivity to her surroundings.
‘Born Else Hildegard Plötz in Germany in 1874, she ran away to the vaudeville theaters of Berlin as a teenager, and before long, she was part of the inner circle of Munich’s Art Nouveau movement. Following several sexual flings that took her across Italy, she helped her second husband fake his own death and start a new life on a Kentucky farm. After they parted ways, she traveled through Virginia and Ohio before arriving in New York, where she briefly married an impoverished Baron and took on his title. The Baroness became a downtown Manhattan legend, known as much for her dazzling costumes and aggressive seduction techniques as for her visceral sculptures and witty poetry. Most importantly, she invented the readymade—a sculpture pulled directly from the materials of daily life, radical in its implications that art can be anything.’ — artsy
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Sebastian’s mother has dressed her apartment in him. School pictures from first, second, third grade cover the walls; fourth, fifth, sixth too. His eyes look less and less delirious and bottomless the closer the pictures get to high school; ironically enough he looked more blitzed as a nine-year-old than as a sixteen-year-old, when his eyes aren’t visible at all but are hidden behind long red bangs.
He breathes in his mother’s Glade air freshener, Refreshing Spa scent, from an old bread bag. His field of vision flutters and becomes neon green. His head and arms are pulled backward, his chest moves forward like in one of those simulated car crashes. He is filled with images he can’t defend himself against. A deserted house next to the train tracks where he lived when he was little, his classmates naked there, a woman being torn to pieces under a subway train before his eyes. The snapping sound of her ribcage being crushed. White flashes bloom like lilies, again and again. He falls backward into a warm, dark coffin and grabs in vain for the edges to pull himself up.
He thinks of his youth, which, just like the air freshener, will soon be gone. He inhales again; a green cloud floats into the room. He sees himself sitting there with a pale and sallow face; under his skin something dark hovers that threatens to break through, become stretch marks, wrinkles, varicose veins, beard, and furrows. The skin of his face is still taut and proud, conceited; but soon the days in which his worth can be measured in BMI and he can allow the androgynous contours of his body to be his only merit will be numbered. He can still swallow sedatives with sparkling wine to tame his exaggerated, spastic movements; he can put on a little makeup, go out somewhere and find success in a corner. He is still offered drinks, he still has unknown tongues whispering in his ears. The blackouts happen a few hours a week; he hears that he was unusually nice and fun, wakes up in the morning in unknown parts of the city, takes pictures of his companion from the night before. Then goes home to crash listlessly in spews of accessories spread out on the floor. (more)
‘In the evaluation of colored gemstones, color is the single most important factor. Color divides into three components; hue, saturation and tone. Hue refers to “color” as we normally use the term. In ruby the primary hue must be red. The finest ruby is best described as being a vivid medium-dark toned red. Secondary hues add an additional complication. Pink, orange, and purple are the normal secondary hues in ruby. Of the three, purple is preferred because, firstly, the purple reinforces the red making it appear richer. Some rubies show a 3-point or 6-point asterism or “star”. These rubies are cut into cabochons to display the effect properly. Asterisms are best visible with a single-light source, and move across the stone as the light moves or the stone is rotated. Such effects occur when light is reflected off the “silk” (the structurally oriented rutile needle inclusions) in a certain way. Furthermore, rubies can show color changes — though this occurs very rarely — as well as chatoyancy or the “cat’s eye” effect.’ — International Colored Stone Association
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‘Vachel Lindsay was one of the nation’s most famous poets, with a reputation for flamboyant performances and a colorful range of aesthetic interests. After a series of health and financial setbacks, he came to Spokane in 1924 as a kind of kept literary man – he was given room and board at the Davenport Hotel in exchange for serving as a kind of cultural ambassador.
‘Lindsay was an idealist and deeply odd; he brought two life-size dolls of French children with him to meals at the Davenport. His rages and flights of fancy helped make him a divisive figure in staid Spokane.
‘Lindsay left Spokane in 1929, returning to his native Springfield, Ill., before embarking on a national tour in an effort to revive his reputation and his finances. By the end of 1931, though, he was broke and paranoid. He drank a bottle of Lysol and died.’ — The Spokesman Review
The Leaden-Eyed
Let not young souls be smothered out before
They do quaint deeds and fully flaunt their pride.
It is the world’s one crime its babes grow dull,
Its poor are ox-like, limp and leaden-eyed.
Not that they starve; but starve so dreamlessly,
Not that they sow, but that they seldom reap,
Not that they serve, but have no gods to serve,
Not that they die, but that they die like sheep.
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Alien Quadrilogy Alien Head ‘What’s special about the packaging is that the discs are held in the dome of an alien’s head. The head is made of a heavy, hard plastic that has an oddly soft feel to it. The paint is airbrushed on, with amazing attention paid to eye and jaw detail. The plastic itself has a rough feel to it, and if you look closely, you’ll see a small sparkle of some other material built in. The plastic cap that comes off is translucent, and hides the DVDs when they are placed within. You can see the eyesockets of the alien skull through the cap, which adds to the frightening aspect of this head. The rear of the head is also beautifully done, and tapers off to a dull point. The discs inside the package are identical to the ones in the original Alien Quadrilogy packaging.’
Alice Cooper Old School 1964-1974 Box Set ‘The set is packaged in a 12″ square box that is designed to look like a school desk. The original album cover was designed by Craig Braun who is also responsible for designing the famous Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers album cover with Andy Warhol. Includes: Four CDs that include exclusive demos, rehearsals, rarities, live performances, interviews and more * DVD with over two hours of footage, including new and candid conversations with the band and never-before-seen archival clips * 12″ LP bootleg of the 1971 Killer tour live in St. Louis * Replica of a rare 7″ single by The Nazz * A deluxe 60-page book written by Lonn Friend, featuring previously unreleased photos * Special extras including reproductions of original ticket stubs, tour program, set list and five art prints of rare poster designs and illustrations * Five Golden Tickets have been hidden in Old School box sets worldwide for a very special VIP concert and meet-and-greet with Alice * The Limited Edition is individually numbered.’
Danny Elfman & Tim Burton Danse Macabre ‘This limited-edition box set collects expansions of the 13 original scores that Elfman has composed for Burton’s iconic films: 16 CDs each packaged with artwork by Burton, adding up to more than 19 hours of music. Grammy-winning designer Matt Taylor has crafted a large scale, tin-covered music box complete with an embedded music chip playing “The Music Box Suite” arranged and performed by Elfman specifically for this historic collection. And, with a flip of the lid, a delightful working zoetrope is revealed featuring strips of art and photos by Burton and Elfman that come to animated life with a spin. Additionally, the package contains a bonus DVD of an exclusive conversation between Elfman and Burton discussing every film and score in their quarter century collaboration. There are over 8 hours of previously unreleased music including additional masters, cut songs, song and score demos, work tapes, orchestra-only song mixes, and foreign-language songs. There’s Danse Macabre: 25 Years of Danny Elfman and Tim Burton: A meticulously researched, lavishly illustrated 260+ page fine linen-wrapped hardbound book, titled with gold foil stamping, and featuring a foreword by Johnny Depp. A collectible created exclusively for this treasure box is a distinctive Skeleton Key USB Flash Drive inspired by the art of Tim Burton. A pull of the key unlocks a USB drive loaded with MP3s of an additional 21 exclusive bonus tracks unavailable anywhere else.’
Lost: The Complete Collection Every Episode in the Series (Seasons 1 through 6) * Over 30hrs of Season 1-6 Bonus materials (previously released materials from Season 1-5 and the all-new Season 6 bonus material) * A unique series of featurettes that takes viewers on very personal tours of Oahu where the series was created, with key cast and crew as they reflect. * Exploring the global phenomenon that is Lost, bonus showcases events ranging from the series cast and crew at San Diego’s famed Comic-Con convention to international voice recordings, local events and even fan parties, all of which helped make the show into a worldwide favorite. * A closer look at some of the props with cast, writers and producers, exploring their significance, stories and emotional ties to the characters. * Humorous yet emotional look at every character who died on the series * 16 hilarious Lost “Slapdowns” featurettes showcasing celebrity Lost fans who confront Executive Producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse to ask press questions about the final season, including the Muppets and cast members Nestor Carbonell, Michael Emerson, Rebecca Mader and more. * The exciting collectible packaging also includes: a Special Edition collectible ‘Senet’ Game as seen in Season Six, a custom LOST island replica, an exclusive episode guide, a collectible Ankh, and a black light penlight.
Band of Brothers Military Kit ‘This Band of Brothers Military Kit is by far the most elaborate (but still sophisticated) Limited Edition DVD packaging I’ve seen. It is an exact replica of a Military Kit that contains a big digipack, 2 Omaha Beach Strike Maps, Pocketbook World War 2 Manual, Newspaper-clippings, Numbered Flier, dogtags and a numbered card. What I love about it is that the whole packaging doesn’t look like it’s trying too hard unlike other Special Edition DVDs that try hard to be unique that everything’s just a big bunch of random mess. You’re lucky if you get to purchase one because its very rare- limited to 6,000 worldwide.’
Shaun Tan The Arrival Deluxe Limited Collector’s Edition ‘This deluxe clamshell box set opens like a suitcase, revealing a vintage pattern (worn and stained) interior. A leather handle with a travel luggage tag completes the case. A leather strap with a metal buckle fastens the suitcase. The luggage tag is printed on two-sides with a contents description and the unique edition number. Includes: The Arrival and Sketches from a Nameless Land books are presented side by side in the suitcase with the print placed on top. The print is contained within a semi-transparent envelope with a protective backing card. Each print will be signed and numbered individually by Shaun Tan. Print Dimensions: 478mm x 312mm (height x width). A special limited edition of the original ‘The Arrival’ has been produced. This edition is wrapped in a special dust jacket to give the appearance of being wrapped in protective tissue secured with a string. Sketches from a Nameless Land is bound with a textured cover. Total weight of The Arrival Collector’s Edition Suitcase complete with contents and outer wrapping is approximately 5kg.’
Rammstein Liebe Ist Für Alle Da ‘This limited edition box set includes not just every note of music recorded by the band Rammstein this year including five extra tracks that weren’t “good enough” for the record, but the metal flight case in which its housed is filled with industrial-strength handcuffs, lubricant and six pink dildos that reflect the sizes of the six members’ wienerwursts.’
Harry Potter Limited Hogwarts Castle 1-6 DVD Box Set The limited edition box Set includes all 6 Harry Potter movies, each movie is represented as Special Edition 2-Disc Set. Hogwarts Castle with wooden base icluding all six Harry Potter movies and a protective plexiglas cover. The draw in the base has extra space for the remaining two movies (Part 7.1 and 7.2) coming out next year. This box set were exclusive made for Germany and France, This one is made in Germany. Measures 37 cm x 38 cm x 31 cm. Weight: 5 kg Castle is brand new, factory sealed.
Merzbow Noise Embryo Mercedes 230 Edition ‘The Story of the Merzbow CD packaged in a car has spread itself across the globe. Alot of rumors have circulated and the truth has been hard to come by. I decided to talk directly to Anders at Releasing Eskimo, the Swedish label that put out the Merzbow car. Here’s what he said: “A while ago I had a Mercedes 230 that I didn’t drive much. The police told me that I had to move it or they’d tow it away. Well, I didn’t want to keep it and I didn’t have anywahere to store it so I decided to use it for something else. I rigged the car’s CD player with our latest release of Merzbow’s “Noise Embryo” CD so that the music started when the car was turned on and it was impossible to turn it off. I put it up for sale as an extremely limited edition of the “Noise Embryo” CD but no one ever bought it, and in the end the car broke down. So we took out the CD and got rid of the car.”‘
Brain In A Box: The Science Fiction Collection ‘This nearly exhaustive, lavishly packaged collection documents the Science Fiction genre’s musical legacy across virtually every major genre on its five discs and 113 tracks. Each volume is divided by sub-genre–Movie Themes, TV Themes, Pop, Incidental/Lounge, Novelty. The film disc alone contains a wealth of rarities, including music from Them!, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, The Andromeda Strain, Fantastic Voyage, and other notables. The packaging: a 6.5-inch square, metal-lidded cube emblazoned on three sides with 3-D lenticular images of- a brain floating in bubbly liquid. But the profusely illustrated, hard-bound, 200-page book (designed to emulate the Big Little Books of the 1940s and ’50s) that’s included gives the subject its serious due, with an introduction by Ray Bradbury and contributions from an array of other notables, including Forrest J. Ackerman, Billy Mumy, Joe Dante, Dr. Demento, and Matt Groening. Perhaps the best half-cubic-foot of sci-fi brain food every assembled.’
NEGURA BUNGET Virstele Pamintului EARTHBOX ‘Limited edition of Negura Bunget new album “Vîrstele Pămîntului”. Handmade woodbox (27 x 16 x 4 cm) with burn-in finishing, roped and filled with real Transilvanian’s earth (to match the concept of the album titled “The Age of Land/Earth”). Includes: the deluxe 8 panels digipack-cd of the album, exclusive 60×90 poster, 12×12 album sticker and Negura Bunget 2,5cm metal pin. This is a state-of-the-art collector item, 100% handmade so each copy is unique and different. Handmade Wooden Box limited to 555 copies.’
Coil Colour Sound Oblivion (Advance Patron’s Edition) ‘Colour Sound Oblivion is Coil’s exhaustive 16-disc live DVD box set, amassing 14 performances plus a slew of goodies in a beautiful hand-made package. The hand-made, numbered wooden box features four cloth DVD wallets, each made of the band’s different stage costume materials. The DVDs, each in a notated cardboard sleeve, are grouped accordingly. The included “Coil Reconstruction Kit” features all the video projections with their accompanying instrumental backing tracks. Also included are more than 100 photos, an insightful 15-page booklet, the program to John Balance’s funeral ceremony, and a personalized dedication card and special totemic gift. The last thing you see before the last disc spins out is a simple written message: “What Coil did for you, you can do for others…” The numbered tag on the inside of the lid is red for the first 200, and blue for numbers 201 and higher. Upon ordering the package during the period of its limited release, the purchaser received in advance of the box’s delivery a framed certificate officially noting the authenticity and number of the edition ordered signed by Peter Christopherson.’
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‘Delonix regia. In English it is given the name Royal Poinciana or Flamboyant. In India it is known as Gulmohar (Hindi and Urdu -‘Gul’ means ‘Peacock’ and ‘Mohr’ is ‘Flowers’. In Vietnamese it is known as Phượng vĩ (means “Phoenix’s Tail). In Guatemala, it is known as “Llama del Bosque”. In India and Pakistan it is referred to as the Gulmohar, or Gul Mohr. In West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh it is called Krishnachura. In Puerto Rico, a town located about 12 miles away from Ponce where the tree is widespread, has been nicknamed “The Valley of the Flames” or “El Valle de los Flamboyanes”. In Vietnam, this tree is called “Phượng vỹ”, or phoenix’s tail. Because of the timing of its blooms, in Cambodia the tree is called the “flowers of pupil”, and often generates strong emotions among graduating high school pupils, as the Poinciana bloom when they are about to leave their school and their childhood behind.’ — eurekamag.org
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‘She was the hero and tattooist of “Godmother of Punk” Patti Smith, provided inspiration for Tennessee Williams and was part of Paris’ bohemian Left Bank scene of the 1950′s. It was there Australian born flamboyant artist Vali Myers became friends with famed French writers Jean Cocteau, Jean-Paul Sartre and Jean Genet, before moving to Italy where she spent 40 years in semi-seclusion and finally returning to Melbourne in the mid ’90′s to set up her first ever studio.
‘Raised in Sydney, Australia, Myers moved to Melbourne at 14 and begun working in factories to put herself through dance school. After working her way up to head dancer at Melbourne’s Modern Dance Company at 17, Myers sought to expand her mind and creative talent and hopped a boat to Paris. Upon her arrival in 1949, the post-war environment at the time meant there were no jobs for dancers but unwilling to go back to Australia, the stoic creative lived on the streets for almost 10 years. Myers became part of the Left Bank bohemian scene of the 1950s – she was featured on the cover of Dutch photographer Ed van der Elsken’s 1956 book Love on the Left Bank and editor of the Paris Review, George Plimpton published an article honouring her work, which Salvador Dali also praised as “totally original”.
‘To escape opium addiction, Myers moved with her then husband Rudi Rappold to a valley in Positano, Italy, where she stayed off-and-on for decades. She began to spend more time in New York starting in the early 1970s where she was befriended and championed by Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, George Plimpton, and others. After living for more than a decade at New York’s Chelsea Hotel, Myers moved back to Australia in 1993 exclaiming, “Australia’s the weirdest fuckin’ country.” Having always moved around she had never had a studio to work from. Renting her first in Melbourne aged 65, Myers worked to raise money to feed her numerous pets and showed her work regularly until her death in 2003.’ — Jessie French, Sex & Fashion
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‘If humans had radio antennas instead of ears, we would hear a remarkable symphony of strange noises coming from our own planet. Scientists call them “tweeks,” “whistlers” and “sferics.” They sound like background music from a flamboyant science fiction film, but this is not science fiction. Earth’s natural radio emissions are real and, although we’re mostly unaware of them, they are around us all the time.’
‘The source of most VLF emissions on Earth is lightning. Lightning strokes emit a broadband pulse of radio waves, just as they unleash a visible flash of light. VLF signals from nearby lightning, heard through the loudspeaker of a radio, sound like bacon frying on a griddle or the crackling of a hot campfire. Space scientists call these sounds “sferics,” short for atmospherics.
‘Even if there is no lighting in your area, you can still hear VLF crackles from storms thousands of kilometers away. Some sferics travel all the way around the Earth. Radio waves can propagate such great distances by bouncing back and forth between our planet’s surface and the ionosphere — a layer of the atmosphere ionized by solar ultraviolet radiation.’ — science.nasa.gov
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‘Described by W. B. Yeats as a “scholar, connoisseur, drunkard, poet, pervert, most charming of men,” Count Stanislaus Eric Stenbock (1860–1895) is surely the greatest exemplar of the Decadent movement of the late nineteenth century.
‘A friend of Aubrey Beardsley, patron of the extraordinary pre-Raphaelite artist Simeon Solomon, and contemporary of Oscar Wilde, Stenbock died at the age of thirty-six as a result of his addiction to opium and his alcoholism, having published just three slim volumes of suicidal poetry and one collection of morbid short stories.
‘Stenbock was a homosexual convert to Roman Catholicism and owner of a serpent, a toad, and a dachshund called Trixie. It was said that toward the end of his life he was accompanied everywhere by a life-size wooden doll that he believed to be his son. His poems and stories are replete with queer, supernatural, mystical, and Satanic themes; original editions of his books are highly sought by collectors of recherché literature.’ — M.I.T.
The Other Side: A Breton Legend
NOT that I like it, but one does feel so much better after it–“oh, thank you, Mère Yvonne, yes just a little drop more.” So the old crones fell to drinking their hot brandy and water (although of course they only took it medicinally, as a remedy for their rheumatics), all seated round the big fire and Mère Pinquèle continued her story.
“Oh, yes, then when they get to the top of the hill, there is an altar with six candles quite black and a sort of something in between, that nobody sees quite clearly, and the old black ram with the man’s face and long horns begins to say Mass in a sort of gibberish nobody understands, and two black strange things like monkeys glide about with the book and the cruets–and there’s music too, such music. There are things the top half like black cats, and the bottom part like men only their legs are all covered with close black hair, and they play on the bag-pipes, and when they come to the elevation, then—” Amid the old crones there was lying on the hearth-rug, before the fire, a boy whose large lovely eyes dilated and whose limbs quivered in the very ecstacy of terror.
“Is that all true, Mère Pinquèle?” he said.
“Oh, quite true, and not only that, the best part is yet to come; for they take a child and—.” Here Mère Pinquèle showed her fang-like teeth.
“Oh! Mère Pinquèle, are you a witch too?”
“Silence, Gabriel,” said Mère Yvonne, “how can you say anything so wicked? Why, bless me, the boy ought to have been in bed ages ago.”
Upon the southern slope of one of those barren hills that rise abruptly here and there in the desolate expanse of the Landes, in South-western France, stood, in the reign of Louis XIII, a gentleman’s residence, such as abound in Gascony, and which the country people dignify by the name of chateau.
Two tall towers, with extinguisher tops, mounted guard at the angles of the mansion, and gave it rather a feudal air. The deep grooves upon its facade betrayed the former existence of a draw-bridge, rendered unnecessary now by the filling up of the moat, while the towers were draped for more than half their height with a most luxuriant growth of ivy, whose deep, rich green contrasted happily with the ancient gray walls.
A traveller, seeing from afar the steep pointed roof and lofty towers standing out against the sky, above the furze and heather that crowned the hill-top, would have pronounced it a rather imposing chateau–the residence probably of some provincial magnate; but as he drew near would have quickly found reason to change his opinion.
The roof, of dark red tiles, was disfigured by many large, leprous-looking, yellow patches, while in some places the decayed rafters had given way, leaving formidable gaps. The numerous weather-cocks that surmounted the towers and chimneys were so rusted that they could no longer budge an inch, and pointed persistently in various directions. The high dormer windows were partially closed by old wooden shutters, warped, split, and in every stage of dilapidation; broken stones filled up the loop-holes and openings in the towers; of the twelve large windows in the front of the house, eight were boarded up; the remaining four had small diamond-shaped panes of thick, greenish glass, fitting so loosely in their leaden frames that they shook and rattled at every breath of wind; between these windows a great deal of the stucco had fallen off, leaving the rough wall exposed to view.
Above the grand old entrance door, whose massive stone frame and lintel retained traces of rich ornamentation, almost obliterated by time and neglect, was sculptured a coat of arms, now so defaced that the most accomplished adept in heraldry would not be able to decipher it. Only one leaf of the great double door was ever opened now, for not many guests were received or entertained at the chateau in these days of its decadence. Swallows had built their nests in every available nook about it, and but for a slender thread of smoke rising spirally from a chimney at the back of this dismal, half-ruined mansion, the traveller would have surely believed it to be uninhabited. This was the only sign of life visible about the whole place, like the little cloud upon the mirror from the breath of a dying man, which alone gives evidence that he still lives.
‘A Private View at the Royal Academy, 1881 is a painting by the English artist William Powell Frith exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts (London) in 1883. It depicts a group of distinguished Victorians visiting the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1881, just after the death of the Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, whose portrait by John Everett Millais was included on a screen at the special request of Queen Victoria. It is visible in the archway at the back of the room.
‘The subject of the painting is the contrast between lasting historical achievements and ephemeral fads. The portrait of Disraeli represents the former, and the influence of the Aesthetic movement in dress represents the latter. Aesthetic dress is exemplified by the principal female figures in green, pink and orange clothing. Oscar Wilde, one of the main proponents of Aestheticism, is depicted at the right behind the boy in the green suit, surrounded by female admirers. Behind him, further to the right, a group of opponents glare disapprovingly at him as he speaks. Among them are the journalist G.A. Sala and the artist Philip Calderon.
‘At the left of the painting, Anthony Trollope is portrayed gazing at an “aesthetic” family. In the centre of the composition Frederic Leighton, President of the Academy, talks to a seated woman. William Thomson, the archbishop of York, stands beside him wearing a top hat. Lillie Langtry appears nearby in a white dress. Other famous figures of the day depicted include Robert Browning, Thomas Huxley, William Ewart Gladstone and Mary Braddon. The actors Ellen Terry and Henry Irving are visible standing behind Wilde.’ — goldenagepaintings.com
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George Kuchar Dynasty of Depravity (2005)
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‘Among British artists the flamboyant George Chinnery (1774-1852) is a most unusual case. He spent the last fifty years of his life in India and on the China coast, where he died and lies buried, and almost all his best work was done in the East. Other ‘orientalist’ artists from Europe might dip a toe (sometimes more) into Asia, and return to make a living by working up and recycling their sketches, but Chinnery never came back. In Calcutta, Canton and Macau he became something of an exotic creature himself – exuberant, droll, unpredictable – a man who relished his status as the oldest of old hands on the China coast. Both George Chinnery and his wife Marianne appear, thinly disguised, in James Clavell’s hugely successful novel Tai-pan as ‘Aristotle Quance, genius of the brush and inveterate philanderer…and his domineering Irish wife, Maureen…’. One of his earliest works only recently rediscovered is an appealing pencil and watercolour portrait of Marianne, whom he had married in Dublin in 1799, which contradicts his later claims that she was extremely ugly.’ –– Asia House in London
‘DESPITE HIS NAME OF ‘CHINNERY’ WHICH SOUNDS ALMOST AS IF MADE-UP OR A FICTITIOUS PSEUDONYM, GEORGE CHINNERY WAS NOT CHINESE BUT THOROUGHLY ENGLISH AND WAS NOT EVEN A FLAMINING FAGGOT AS HE WAS MARRIED AND HAD CHILDREN. AS YOU ARE SADLY AWARE, FLAMBOYANT AND FLASHILY DRESSED MEN ARE ALWAYS SUSPECTED OF BEING GAY AND I MEAN GAY AS IN A HOMO AND NOT ‘MERRY’. OF COURSE THIS MAY BE TRUE IN SOME CASES AS LIBERACE, ELTON JOHN AND WRITER OSCAR WILDE COME TO MIND.’ — kee hua chee
‘Sergey Esenin’s flamboyant personality, peasant origins, and craving for self-destruction have forever canonized him as Russia’s favorite “hooligan poet.” Esenin died at the age of 30, tired of life and poetry. His suicide, still a mystery, triggered a wave of suicides among his fervent adepts. The novelty and magnitude of his poetry continues to astonish his readers.’ — The Melancholic
my cute, that the images
my cute, that the images,
as a holy, all repent.
I fucked seven times have, —
eight relies!
You do not own
You do not own,
not own, not.
I now another
give it French style.
And now another
I give to fuck-
Who among you is dearer:
Dick you plead.
nate, take, to devour
nate, take, to devour
My soul black earth.
God crushed us ass,
And we call it the sun.
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REGALIA, n. Distinguishing insignia, jewels and costume of such ancient and honorable orders as Knights of Adam; Visionaries of Detectable Bosh; the Ancient Order of Modern Troglodytes; the League of Holy Humbug; the Golden Phalanx of Phalangers; the Genteel Society of Expurgated Hoodlums; the Mystic Alliances of Georgeous Regalians; Knights and Ladies of the Yellow Dog; the Oriental Order of Sons of the West; the Blatherhood of Insufferable Stuff; Warriors of the Long Bow; Guardians of the Great Horn Spoon; the Band of Brutes; the Impenitent Order of Wife-Beaters; the Sublime Legion of Flamboyant Conspicuants; Worshipers at the Electroplated Shrine; Shining Inaccessibles; Fee-Faw-Fummers of the inimitable Grip; Jannissaries of the Broad-Blown Peacock; Plumed Increscencies of the Magic Temple; the Grand Cabal of Able-Bodied Sedentarians; Associated Deities of the Butter Trade; the Garden of Galoots; the Affectionate Fraternity of Men Similarly Warted; the Flashing Astonishers; Ladies of Horror; Cooperative Association for Breaking into the Spotlight; Dukes of Eden; Disciples Militant of the Hidden Faith; Knights-Champions of the Domestic Dog; the Holy Gregarians; the Resolute Optimists; the Ancient Sodality of Inhospitable Hogs; Associated Sovereigns of Mendacity; Dukes-Guardian of the Mystic Cess-Pool; the Society for Prevention of Prevalence; Kings of Drink; Polite Federation of Gents-Consequential; the Mysterious Order of the Undecipherable Scroll; Uniformed Rank of Lousy Cats; Monarchs of Worth and Hunger; Sons of the South Star; Prelates of the Tub-and-Sword.
p.s. Hey. ** David Ehrenstein, That is true, and I wonder if Joe knew Feneon’s work. Yep, about the Rohmer cancellation. I love those three films too. I think my favorite is ‘The Green Ray. And maybe ‘Claire’s Knee’. And I have a huge soft spot fo his oddity ‘Perceval le Gallois’. I hope you can get in touch with your friends. ** Tosh Berman, Hi. We’re probably going to go ahead and wait on Japan until they open Nintendo Land at Universal Studios Osaka, us being us. Well, apparently the Switch will not arrive unless I can find and employ some powers some unforeseen personal magic. Which I will try to do. You too, re: staying contextually sane and utterly healthy. ** alex rose, Hi, bud. Yeah, I was laughing as I yelled back at the guy. Which seems to have worked since he’s been hiding out ever since. Do take every precaution. If I can, and I am apart from refusing to wear a mask when I go out, you can. Ooh, this weekend. You can shove it in my coffin if you prefer. It would be my corpse’s honor. Love to you! ** _Black_Acrylic, Yeah, he’s great. So glad you and he hooked up. Aw, you can nail that story, man. Do it. There’s happiness in the offing out there somewhere. Oh, so, if the news reports are accurate, you guys are quarantined almost like we are now, no? But without the ‘show me your papers’ part, I think. ** Dominik, Hi, D! It really does put things in perspective. I’m hoping to keep that perspective after we’re freed up to be hooligans again. It’s true about the kindness out there. It’s interesting. Yeah, that’s just terrible about your brother’s utterly unfair eviction. Shocking, really. The TV series project cancellation is simultaneously no surprise and a drag beyond belief. Never never never again. If we do end up transforming the script into a film script, I’ve told Gisele that I will only agree to do that if the film is cheap enough to make that there is no pressure to normalise the project in order to guarantee earning back how much money the film cost to make. Zac’s and my films are so inexpensive to make that we get total artistic freedom. I suspect Gisele won’t be willing to work at the scale we do, but if the budget is over a million — apparently a million is raisable if you have a star on board, and the film has Adele Haenel, who’s a very big star here, attached — I’m going to bail. Ah, so you have ‘Story of the Eye’, of course. Suggestion-wise, its hard to think because I think of so many books I can recommend. Semiotext(e) is a very good source, yes. A great press that pretty much never publishes books that aren’t really good. I will keep trying to think though. It’s strange how hard it is to concentrate during this quarantine thing. I’m reading, making blog posts, watching films, listening to a lot of music, wasting time on the internet, … I think Zac and I will probably start working on the TV-to-film script work tomorrow if Gisele can reassure us about the strong possibility of the proposed film getting made. We have a cyber-meeting with her in the morning. I’d like to start a new fiction or novel thing, but we’ll see. How about you? How did you spend your sequestered day? Love, me. ** Bill, Ha ha, yes, Feneon seems custom made for you. Did you get the coding progress you hoped? ** schlix, Thanks, Uli, me too. Oh, duh, I have read ‘Gathering Evidence’, of course. I just spaced on the titles of the contents. Yeah, that’s a fantastic book. I just restored an old Sebald blog post for future relaunching and have been rereading him a little. Christ, he was good. Whoa. Best day possible to you, pal. ** Jeff J, Hey. Indeed, re: the Luc Sante. A new biography of Sante or Feneon? Oh, I’ll find out. The new Costa is really great. You’ll be happy. I don’t know ‘The Bread Factory’, but I am extremely intrigued to say the least. I’ll look for it. Happy about the happy vet news. Even mostly good news deserves the Nobel Peace prize until further notice. ** Steve Erickson, Hi. Great about the Quietus gig, but no news to you that ‘DftD’ is high on my list of the worst films of all time. I think it absolutely was the beginning of the end for von Trier. I liked everything of his before it to one degree or another and have hated everything of his ever since. Mm, I’m not interested in The Weeknd. I guess I’ll try it, although I suspect you mentioning Dan Bejar in relation to it is only going to make me find it even less interesting. But, hey, you never know, truly. ** Misanthrope, Hi. Ha ha, Feneon and Radiguet are absolutely nothing alike. That’s funny. I went to the grocery store yesterday. 40 minute wait to get inside, but it was stocked and fairly peaceful in there. My goal for today is to find an open tabac seller because all of them around me are closed, even though we were told they’d stay open, and I’m running out, and my nerves are jangling. ** Right. Today I restore an old, previously dead thematic post for you. I figured we could all do with a little flamboyance right now since there is basically none around to behold. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 