‘Nikos Koundouros was a versatile, multitalented Greek film director who was considered one of the biggest personalities of 20th century world cinema. Koundouros, born in Agios Nikolaos, Crete in 1926, was a multifaceted personality, but also an everlasting Greek myth who over the years sought for beauty and splendor in his Byzantine iconography, his paintings, sketches, photography, his motion pictures and his writings. His artistic affluence is inspired by an amalgamation of Byzantine iconography and the beautiful bodies and landscapes exposed during the Renaissance period. In his career as a director, he directed every frame through the eyes of the painter.

‘From a young age he came face to face with fascism, violence, and his exile to the island of Makronissos due to his political beliefs and his independent and revolutionary character who was willing to say ‘no’ and keep his head up high with pride. This way, his creative proposal became a need: from one point a political one, for what his youthful mentality dictated and from the other his aesthetics, because beauty – he believed and still believes – is the only answer to the vile of human beings and the leveling of death.

‘At the age of 28 he decided to follow a career in cinematography, and started his career as a director of the film ‘Magiki Polis’ (Enchanted City) (1954), where he combined his neorealist influences with his own artistic viewpoint. After the release of his complex and innovative film ‘O Drakos’ (Draco) (1956), he found acceptance as a prominent artist in Greece and Europe, and has acquired important awards in various international and Greek film festivals. His directorial career climaxed in 1963 when he received the Best Director Award at the Berlin Film Festival, for the film “Young Aphrodites”.’ — collaged

 

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Stills

 

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Further

Nikos Koundouros @ IMDb
Nikos Koundouros – Big exhibition at the 60th TIFF
Opening of the exhibition “The unknown artist Nikos Koundouros”
Nikos Koundouros // Images for a Country
NK @ MUBI
NK @ letterboxd
NK @ SensCritique
Chapter 3. Nikos Koundouros and the Cinema of Cruel Realism
Film of the month: The Ogre of Athens
Book: Nikos Koundouros : A Retrospective
Film Director Nikos Koundouros passes away at the age of 90

 

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Extras

Tribute to Nikos Koundouros

Moving Faces | Nikos Koundouros

Nikos Koundouros art exhibition

Poet Andrea Dimitriou talks of Koundouros’s “The Orge of Athens”

 

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Interview

 

“So, what are your questions?” he asked, and started responding himself without a second thought, and with a passion in his speech as if he was a teenager, our interview commenced!

“SURPRISE! After all these years, the stubbornness and the persistence of a very good friend – the Professor of the Arts – Manos Stefanidis – convinced me to exhibit my paintings for the first time! I’ve been painting for the past 60 years, I was born a painter! I studied iconography, I learned the art of iconography and as the years past by, I slowly detached myself from the discipline which is required for performing iconography, Byzantine iconography which contains rigor and asceticism. Because the iconographer is an ascetic being; it’s him, the wood, his colors and the silence. For years I respected this procedure the only thing I did not do is fast; fasting is a rule for the iconographer. I respected everything else… but I never fasted!

“As the years passed by I was irritated by sparks of suspicion for non-iconographic painting and I slowly pursued orthodoxy of another kind, which was renaissance. As we all know Greece did not enjoy the affluence of the renaissance period as it was under the occupation of Turks. But Crete and the Ionian islands somewhat experienced the renaissance, through these channels we slowly understood what renaissance painting meant. I had started to feel the joy and the charm of the naked bodies; renaissance disregarded the Puritanism of the church and set free the human body which was glorified and offered to the people of Europe.

“The naked body whether male or female, was no more a secret! It was a naked body, which was stunningly beautiful! We see paintings of the 16th-18th century which glorified the body and the landscape. As you have notice Byzantine iconography has no landscapes apart from some houses just to make reference to the space. Renaissance paintings brought the landscape in first place, second painting-wise, but the viewer saw the wonderful forests, the mountain range, the hills, and he saw landscapes and the human body on the equal terms. So basically this was the second phase of my studies… I learned how to draw!”

What is your relationship with God?

“We’re friends! (smile) We chat sometimes. I might have never been a Christian but I loved the orthodox ceremony, I disliked Catholicism, I disliked the way that the Pope and the Cardinals tried to impose the religion of love, which was the religion of God. What I didn’t dislike was Orthodoxy, the peace, the tranquility, the love and the interpretation of love; love the others so you could love yourself. I belong to that religion. I liked the church, the incense, the smell of the incense! I ran after every epitaph with humbleness, with respect and with that chill that the Holy Week ceremonies prevail. I never became a Christian, and I say it with some sort of pride! I never wanted the subjection of a Christian!”

And the exhibition?

“Part of this romantic renaissance is expressed in my painting but only for the one who has the knowledge to understand the roots, and those roots are no other than Byzantine iconography, and I don’t want to hide it! What I want to say is that I am a child of Byzantine iconography who is identified with the enthusiasm of the European painting culture.”

And you … ?

“I was born in a period under great pressure, moral, spiritual, mental, every sort of pressure. I am a child of oppression. I lived the dictatorship of Metaxas, I lived very severe situations! My father was a democrat who was sentenced to death; he made it and survived at first. I lived the Greek-Italian war and the reign of the Germans . I don’t remember a time in my life where I feel asleep carefree, I was like the old thieves, with one eye open, waiting for that knock on the door, that painful knock, being afraid that they would catch me! A constant state of nervousness and anxiety! Ex post facto, I am not objecting it as another way of life, I wanted it, I made it mine and I lived with it! I befriended this agony of the door knock; that is how the years passed by.”

 

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11 of Nikos Koundouros’s 19 films

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The Magic City (1954)
‘THE MAGIC CITY is the fantastic debut of Nikos Koundouros, one of Greece’s most iconoclastic postwar filmmakers. Blending Italian Neorealism with a personal stylistic sensibility that anticipates Jean-Pierre Melville’s gangster chic, THE MAGIC CITY stars Giorgos Foundas (also of STELLA) as Kosmas, a young man scraping by in the slums of Athens trying to make an honest living–while carrying on with a married woman and bumming around with hoods in the underground clubs and arcade alleys of “Magic City.” When the bank threatens to repossess his truck—source of his pride, a benefit to his community, and lifeblood of his labor—he reluctantly takes a smuggling gig in hopes of making his payments — but learns he’s in for a little more than he bargained for. THE MAGIC CITY crafts a new urban poetic realism that champions the working poor while delving into modern issues of moral complexity. And it’s every bit a brilliant first film — exuberant, perhaps overly idealistic, and brimming with the discovery of a new national character in cinema.’ — Spectacle

Trailer

 

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The Ogre of Athens (1956)
‘The film “O Drakos” is about a mousy, timid, bespectacled guy in Athens who sees a newspaper photo of a fugitive criminal mastermind called “The Fiend”. It’s the spitting image of the harmless nerd. A gang of starstruck crooks sees our hapless hero, mistakes him for the Fiend, rescues him from imminent arrest and more or less forces him to lead a desperate criminal scheme they’ve got going. And finally, the poor little man becomes enamoured of the idea, decides for once in his sad life to be a tough guy and a hero. He surrenders to his bizarre destiny, to be “The Fiend of Athens”… O Drakos is brilliant: a dark, satirical noir masterpiece… is like a French New Wave picture crossed with a British Ealing comedy, with something of Fellini in its zinging energy, and Carol Reed’s Odd Man Out and The Third Man. The stark, dramatic key-lighting in the “arrest” scene gives the imagery a Weegee-type crime-scene aesthetic…’ — letterboxd

Trailer

the entirety

 

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The Outlaws (1958)
‘Filmed illegally at Meteora and under the fear of the censorship, that had not allowed the making of this film, Koundouros’ “The Outlaws” handled a topic that incarnated the absolute taboo of those years. The Civil War had ended a decade ago and its effects were still everywhere to be felt – with the silencing of any leftist voice dominating in the society. The film does not concentrate on the Civil War itself though, but on the time before its outbreak when the Nazis had just left Greece and the resistance fighters were forced by the state to hand over their weapons. The fighters of Elas, who did not agree, went back to the mountains and were hunted by the police. Koundouros described his film as a film of wrath against the violence of the new police state that emerged after the war. Expectedly, “The Outlaws” survived only one day in the cinemas before being banned by the censors. The Outlaws is also a beautifully filmed film, with strong characters and a perfect soundtrack by Hadjidakis.’ — salty_jim

Excerpt

 

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Young Aphrodites (1963)
‘Sexual discovery from a tale told in 200 B.C. looks primal and yet so innocent. Every moment is shot with a poetic energy and it feels as though we have traveled back in time to witness male and female behavior first hand. The two couples, one much more mature than the other, seem to struggle through some barbaric behavior but upon further thought, it resembles much of what we see and hear in modern day by use of minuscule expressions: clipped wings and man building fire. Perhaps the origin of perceived gender roles/identification.’ — Mr Taylor

Excerpt

the entirety

 

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Vortex (1967)
‘”Vortex” is a very bizarre and experimental Greek film; with a style thats reminiscent of Bergman, Antonioni, early Polanski, Jodorowsky and Arrabal. To be honest, it’s really hard to describe. “Vortex” is a movie within a movie and is shown out of sequence with repeated takes. The story gets interrupted repeatedly with the click of the director’s marquis. He yells “Vortex, Take 20 etc. etc. etc.”! So it’s hard to decipher if a story is taking place or if your watching behind the scenes of a movie. What’s surprising is that the film was made in 1966 and contains both frontal male and female nudity, a lengthy sex scene and even the use of the F-word. (the only version I know about exists in English) It was hard to tell what the exact plot was; the story also had something to do with the Greek myth of Medusa. It seemed to be about friends on vacation and going on a sort of boating trip. One man asks the girl if she has seen his brother? Then the film has a flashback of the brother’s sexual encounter with the beautiful lady while in England. They then here news that the brother is now dead. Scenes keep repeating themselves over and over, but along the way we’re treated to a good looking Greek cast, bizarre images and beautiful architecture . The film is shot in black and white and images appear to jump right out because of the chiaroscuro landscapes. The film’s music is haunting and mystical. Among the scenes that I remembered the most were; the skull on the scarecrow, face painting while the performance of bongo drums, and the female actress reattaching the leg of a creepy doll in the water. “Vortex” was very ahead of its time in its on screen portrayal of sexuality. “Vortex” is very unique; I wonder why it has seemed to of faded into obscurity?’ — NateManD

the entirety

 

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The Songs of Fire (1975)
‘A political concert filmed by the director Nikos Koundouros in 1974 (“Ta tragoudia tis fotias”), just after the end of the dictatorship.’ — creteisland

Excerpt

Watch more excerpts here

 

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1922 (1978)
‘The revolutionary Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is famous for being the first president of Turkey and is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey, formally established in 1923 after the Turkish War of Independence, which was initiated by Atatürk himself along with his colleagues in Anatolia. Said war took place between 1919 and 1923, being extended from the defeat of the Ottoman Empire by the Allies during World War I to the declaration of the Republic of Turkey. During this period, Greeks and Armenians located in Anatolia were forced out of their territories by Turkish resistance movements led by Atatürk.

‘Koundouros’ film is based on the autobiographical novel by Greek novelist Elias Venezis (a pseudodym for his real name Elias Mellos) entitled “Number 31328”, where he describes his experiences during his 14-month stay in a hard-labor concentration camp. The number in the novel’s title references the number he was assigned as a prisoner. The film consists on the development of personal tragedies of three different characters – a wife’s merchant, a professor and a 17-year-old adolescent – against the backdrop of the displacement of more than one million Greek Orthodox Christians.

‘Koundouros’ scope is nightmarishly haunting, utilizing a wide lens and a number of panoramic and first-POV tracking shots that accentuate every single atrocity committed by the monstrous Turks against the inhabitants, making them even more emotionally impactful. The film is furiously denunciating the violent means used against the inhabitants in Anatolia, which were entirely unarmed, and takes an extremely personal stand. A whole introductory chapter is dedicated for presenting the three different protagonists in the middle of a terrified town emotionally attached to the place they and their ancestors were born. Ergo, a full background is presented for the characters before we are taken to endure their personal hardships, but never losing focus on the victimized populace, which feels betrayed by the Greeks, given that it was the Greek government the one who authorized the expedition in Asia Minor.’ — Edgar Cochran

Excerpt

Excerpt

the entirety

 

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Bordello (1985)
‘During the overthrow of the Ottoman occupation of Crete in 1897 (and its impending reunification with the Greek mainland), a hooker from Marseilles starts a brothel in Hania, Crete, which establishes itself as the place of sexual pleasure as well as clandestine diplomacy.’ — MUBI

Excerpt

Excerpt

 

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Byron, Ballad for a Daemon (1992)
‘Koundouros’ uncompromising preoccupation with themes from Greek history do not aim at hagiography, but rather, at a mythical penetration into the chthonic dimensions of people and leaders in social upheaval. Here, in this claustrophobic and rainy setting -at odds with a philhellene’s vision of Hellas- Byron (an astonishing Vakousis) is glorified as lewd, animal-like, mystic visionary of the revolution. Captivating.’ — dionysus67

 

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The Photographers (1998)
‘In a nonaligned country, where a civil conflict is raging, a team of photographers follows a mercenary war lord, whose men wreak havoc among enemies and innocents alike. The story is a modern version of the tragedy Antigone, in a time when TV and the other media present unrelieved visions of war and bloody mayhem.’ — letterboxd

Excerpt

Excerpt

 

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A Ship to Palestine (2012)
‘“The Magic City” and “The Ogre of Athens” aside – the two films he made in the 50s – Nikos Koundouros’ body of work has been very consistent to his filmmaking style for the past seven decades. “A Ship to Palestine” marks the end of a 14-year hiatus, as the 86-year-old director hadn’t made a film since 1998. “A Ship to Palestine” is the natural progression of “The Photographers” and a distant relative to “Byron, a Ballad of a Man Possessed” and “Bordello”, featuring Koundouros’ trademark style, a quasi-experimental approach to historical narrative that might have been considered innovative in the 80s but is totally outdated in the year 2012. His once elaborate vision now seems redundant and artless, like a parody of his own oeuvre.’ — Flix

Watch an excerpt here

 

 

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p.s. Hey. ** Ferdinand, Ha ha, thank you so much again, man! It was a hit! My eternal gratitude! ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. I don’t see the wannabe Andy thing at all. There’s been decades of water under that bridge. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. ** Dominik, Hey!! Cool! About the pizza. It’s a date. Yeah, I guess I imagined you proof-reading fiction. That’s where my head immediately goes, unsurprisingly, I guess. Frisk made it into the Halloween slave round up. How could I not? Slightly disheveled love is definitely the best kind. Love that turns every glass of water you drink into a wishing well, Dennis. ** Daniel, Daniel! Always, as I probably always say, a joy to see you here! Oops, about the scrubbing. Orville Peck?! The Orville Peck? Yikes. I, of course, didn’t see that ‘JT LeRoy’ movie for the obvious reasons. But I’d love to see a screengrab of that back cover. That’s wild. How’s life? Immensely interesting despite it all, I can only assume, what with you being you? ** Steve Erickson, Hi. I still, after many Zoom convos, have to ask the person I’m Zooming with to set up the Zoom meeting because I’m a klutz. New word-based stuff by you! Everyone, Steve has a couple of new things penned by him for you to read. Steve: ‘Here’s my review of Pietro Marcello’s MARTIN EDEN, with a paragraph on his 2009 film THE MOUTH OF THE WORLD. (Film at Lincoln Center starts streaming all 4 of his features Friday). And here’s my review of Dorian Electra’s MY AGENDA.’ I vaguely remember ‘Aura’. Not well though. I wonder if some enterprising someone would de-produce the 80s-isms out of that album and see what results. ** Jeff J, Hi, Jeff. Oh, I like the new Julien Calendar EP. Especially the last two tracks. Those were the ones that stuck/hit the most for me this time out. I’ve only seen a couple of Yvonne Rainer’s films. I can’t remember their names as it’s been a while. I definitely don’t remember being blown away by them. I vaguely remember thinking I liked her performance work better. But I’d be curious to revisit her films. Hm. Thanks, man. ** chris dankland, Hey, Chris, buddy boy! I’m doing fine. Oh, yeah, it was nice to be able to read Blake’s novel bit in that video. It was a nice project. I miss that guy. I have a lot of friends who teach, and not one of them, wherever they teach, is post-Zoom yet. I’m glad yours are going okay. Not every teacher I know is so happy about theirs. Yes, do something for Halloween! The world’s greatest holiday is so starved this year. Wait, you’re in Phoenix, right? Am I remembering correctly? If so, you do have a few haunted house attractions open there this year, a couple of which look pretty cool, if you’re into that sort of thing. Here’s a list. Yeah, I’ve seen Sunn0)))) live four times, I think. Amazing show, and, yeah, very very loud. A particular kind of loud. They play really low notes, so it’s not the kind of loud that screeches and rips up your eardrums, it’s more sort of a full body effect, like your body is experiencing an hour long biological earthquake or something. Highly recommended if they get near you. Man, I so miss live music shows. And there’s no sign that they’re coming back here anytime soon. In fact, tonight France is going to get harsher new COVID restrictions, and no one knows what they’ll be, and we’re all kind of fearful. You have a spectacular morning out there in the drylands, good sir! ** Brian O’Connell, Hi, Brian. Thanks, man. I would be surprised if you don’t really like ‘The Conformist’. I’m a giant fan of Visconti’s German trilogy. Weirdly, I just yesterday read that Bjorn Andresen, who played Tadzio, ‘the world’s most beautiful boy’, in ‘Death in Venice’ has a small part in ‘Midsommar’, and, wow, is he unrecognisable. Have you gotten into Antonioni at all in your Italian film exploring? He’s pretty amazing too. No rambling, perish the thought, just reading pleasure, sir. A fine day to you. ** Right. I’m guessing that a lot of readers won’t know the films of Greek director Nikos Koundouros, or maybe I mean you might not know his name. Very interesting stuff. And even though it’s not really covered in the post itself, he’s also interesting because he went being known and respected as a hard left director/activist to being a xenophobic nationalist guy/activist in his last years. Strange. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the post. See you tomorrow.

 

You’ve probably came across Seth Bogart, the multi-disciplinary artist, in one form or another: whether that be with his zany punk pop ceramics or as the big Bogart personality with the heavy gelled black painted hair and shiny red suit or as the front man for Hunx and his punx or as the other more stripped down perpetually shirtless speedo wearing guitar wielding rockstar who just released the new album “Men on the verge of nothing.”

 

 

In his musical career he has toured and collaborated with Kathleen Hannah and had Shannon from Shannon and the clams as band mate in Hunx and his punkettes. Besides being a fixture in the L.A music and art scene, Seth Bogart also has a succesfull streetwear label Wacky Wacko with a fabric print collaboration with Saint Laurent for a mens shirt. In 2012 Seth Bogart launched a web series called “Hollywood nailz” likened to a bizzarro 80’s public access style variety show.

In 2018 the production company World of Wonder, who are the creators behind Rupaul’s drag race, created the web series Feeling fruity by incorporating Bogart and his handmade installations (a la Peevy Herman playhouse) into a variety show.

 

Trailer sampler for “Men on the verge of nothing”

 

“Library Fantasy Vol 1” currently on show at Fierman gallery in N.Y which compromises of ceramic replicas of books, true to size and displayed on shelves as in a bookstore. It’s a imaginary library of a septuagenarian pioneer of the queer community.

 

 

Don’t ever call Seth Bogart an influencer.
by Bridgette Read. Vogue, Feb 2019

What’s it like being a lifelong punk in a city as matcha-soaked and millennial-pink-hued as L.A.? If you ask Seth Bogart, it’s not as hard as you might think. “It’s my favorite punk scene,” the Tucson-born Bogart says of his home for the last seven years or so, where he performs as the frontman of Hunx and His Punx. “When punk started in the late seventies, in L.A. especially it was the most diverse here. It was lots of people of color, and women, and queers and stuff. Every punk scene’s just a bunch of white dudes for the most part, with some women sprinkled in. Here you have, like, Alice Bag, and the Go-Go’s, and Darby Crash.”

 

 

Bogart’s prodigious creative output—ceramics, painting, music, clothing design—feels like an oasis of DIY in a sea of unrelenting digital non-labor. A longtime West Coast fixture in the queer and punk art scenes, he takes up material culture from the fringe, and distorts Hollywood glamour into a freewheeling free-sex utopia. And even as it’s become harder and harder to stay autonomous as an artist, he remains staunchly, exhilaratingly fuck-you-oriented, even if the rent in L.A. is too damn high. “It’s sort of sad and hard, yes,” in terms of sticking it out, he said on the phone with Vogue in January. “But I still think that there’s so much going on here and it’s such a great city. I always want to move somewhere else, but I don’t really know where to go.”

 

 

Bogart started out as a hairdresser in beauty school and as a performer in the Oakland punk scene, and the marriage of two worlds—pop and punk—comes together in his career, which is now primarily focused on three things: recording a new album, prepping for an upcoming exhibition of his Beetlejuice-meets-Warhol ceramic objects in Chicago, and making new items for Wacky Wacko, his clothing line and curio shop. Last year, he hosted a zany Pee Wee Herman–style show called Feelin’ Fruity for World of Wonder in which he and comedians Kate Berlant and John Early make and model garbage-bag couture, in front of a set he made totally by hand with collaborator Christine Stormberg (a.k.a. Hardcore Tina). This was preceded by his initial foray into video with 2012’s minimall fever dream Hollywood Nails, described by Bogart and cocreator Brande Bytheway as “a nail-biting extravaganza of mostly useless products and pansexual hijinks!!!”

 

 

This has meant that he’s had a few confrontations with mainstream outfits that were looking to cash in on queer culture. When I ask about an aborted 2017 meeting with a nationally prominent news organization aimed at hip millennials, he says, “I didn’t walk out, but I was just like, ugh. They approached me with weird ulterior intentions. They wanted me to host some makeover show, but they didn’t just tell me that, so I shared all these ideas with them and then it just turned into them wanting me to do this other thing and that’s when I kind of was like, I’m not interested, bye! Because I’m not really trying to do someone else’s idea, you know? I mean, I like collaborating, but it was clear that they already had something in mind, and honestly I don’t really like that company or like a lot of what they’ve done and stand for.” Instead, Bogart looks to others who were successful without compromising their strangeness, like John Waters, Divine, and Kathleen Hanna: “I’m pretty grateful for my upbringing, and being punk, and growing up listening to Riot Grrl music, because I feel like it gave me a backbone.”

 

 

So how do you translate the Seth Bogart experience for the Instagram generation? He doesn’t, really (although he isn’t above posting the occasional studly selfie). “I generally hate it and wish I didn’t have to,” he says, of the ubiquitous drive to post. “I feel like it’s like selling myself in a tiny box.” And he hates the censorship most of all: “I can’t post a lot of art I make on there because it’s explicit, or there’s stuff I made it about, like hating men, that’s not even violent and it will get erased.” It’s ironic that what he does share, especially ingenious, irreverent ceramic objects like a Maybelline mascara wand that doubles as a bong and a toothbrush out of which crawls a stiletto, plays masterfully with the clean neutrality of the platform. “The reason I make all these products and stuff, I think, is because of brain damage from beauty school,” says Bogart. “I hate the fucking fashion world, it sucks, but it’s nowhere near as bad as the art world or Hollywood. I did like a Saint Laurent collaboration, where his doodled “Hunx Notebook” print was used on button-down shirts, backpacks, and lace-up sneakers for the Fall 2014 men’s collection, “which was cute . . . And then I was like, I don’t really want to follow these rules.” He favors other arty L.A. brands like Online Ceramics, Surprising Health Benefits, and No Sesso.

 

 

A second season of Feelin’ Fruity could be coming down the pike, but regardless, Bogart’s influence can very much be felt in the evolution of the weirder corners of Instagram and YouTube, or in Dis Magazine’s recent pivot to video. Just don’t use that word: ”Someone called me an influencer the other day and I was like, What? Fuck you.” As of now, for Bogart, the goal is to keep living and working, follower count be damned: “Every artist that I really like is someone who always did what they wanted to do, and didn’t try to do what would get them a lot of attention at the time, or do what everyone else was doing. And they just stuck with it and eventually people realized that and appreciated it. When I’m down or whatever, like, What the fuck am I doing?—which is all the time—I just need to trust myself and keep going, because it’s too late to turn back.”

 

 

Seth Bogart cut his teeth in the band Gravy train!!!! SF Weekly compared them to The Cramps if they were a sexed-up riot grrrl band.

It’s certainly not great music,” Pitchfork critic Julianne Escobedo Shepherd wrote of the 2003 Gravy Train!!!! album Hello Doctor, which she gave a score of 2.9 out of 10. “Its terribleness is trumped by its incredible disregard for human decency.”

 

 

Hunx and his punx was formed in 2008. They have a boneheaded garage punk sound along with the catchiness of a 60’s girl band.

 

 

In 2009 Seth Bogart appeared in an X rated version of the Girls music video for Lust for life.

 

 

 

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p.s. Hey. ** Today the blog gets the big treat of this guest post from d.l. Ferdinand about the multidisciplinary wild guy artist of endless stripes Seth Bogart. If you don’t know his work, you will now or already do depending on whether you view this place from top to bottom or vice versa. Enjoy the shebang and give a verbal shout out to Ferdinand to express your interest and/or thanks. And thank you, F., from the bottomest part of the blog’s heart. ** David Ehrenstein, Very glad you found his work of interest. ** Dominik, Hi, D!!! It’s true I’m not wildly surprised that you like his work, but what a bonus. Okay, I’ll do a hunt for his new film with moderate expectations, thank you. It was a very good pizza. Best pizza in Paris possibly. When you finally visit the big P, we’ll munch there together. I can imagine that proof-reading would have a giant instructional booklet that one can take with grains of salt sometimes? Ha ha. Finally yesterday after years of scouring slave profiles I found one whose slave is looking for a master who knows my work and whose slave name is Frisk love, Dennis. ** Jeff J, Hi, Jeff. Yes, indeed, that Altmejd piece was on the cover of Derek’s ‘The Show That Smells’. Derek chose it and Joel Westendorf, the official LHotB cover designer, did the layout. I’m doing my new Julien Calendar exploring today as yesterday got away from me. I like so many of Sarraute’s books. If I had to choose very favorites, maybe, in addition to the aforementioned and ‘TGF’, ‘The Planetarium’, ‘Martereau’, and ‘The Use of Speech’. And, obviously, ‘Tropisms’ is insanely great. We’re squared away re: Skype, and I look forward to it! ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi. No, stupidly and temporarily tragically, I still haven’t watch ‘Twin Peaks 3’. Absurd, I know. ** Bill, It’s possible, about ‘Le Samourai’. It might have been on my top 50 films list, I can’t remember. I don’t know ‘Slow Machine’. Wow, I can’t remember the last time I saw a film characterised as ‘mumblecore’. That takes me back and also intrigues. Thanks. Toe continues to incrementally cease calling attention to itself. ** Misanthrope, You know I agree. Two weeks sounds sane. I don’t remember ever celebrating Columbus Day, but then I’ve never had a 9-5 job, and it seems like one of those dates celebrated only via maybe getting off work. Celebrating that dude is gross, if you ask me, but there are much worse problems. Internet/email has made everything to do with submitting work or manuscripts many infinite times better, yes. ** john christopher, Hi, jc. I totally and obviously agree about Altmejd’s stuff. Big indeed to you about that jingle. Still, to this day, when I remember it, it gets stuck in my head and tortures me for days. Whenever humanly possible, I do Halloween in Southern California. It’s the kingdom, the Mt. Olympus of Halloween with hundreds of home haunts and haunted house attractions, which are my soul’s oxygen. One would think London would have figured out how to bear hug Halloween and its incomparable possibilities by this point in time. Paris too, actually, but it’s a wasteland here as well. Oh, wow, thank you, I would love to get that Halloween pamphlet! I don’t give my address here, but send me a quick email at denniscooper72@outlook.com, and I’ll jet it back to you. Thanks a ton. I’m excited to read that. It’s cold here too. I might even have to pull out my scarf today for goodness sake. ** Scunnard, Hey JP! Great to see you, man, and thanks a bunch. You good? You seem to be doing good from the mid-distance that social media’s information providing talents allows. ** Steve Erickson, Ah, well, may your eyes show you impeccable patience. ** Nick Toti, Hi, Nick. Oh, cool. Will do. Thanks for targeting this bunch for feedback. Everyone, Superlative magnetising filmmaker Nick Toti has a request/gift for you. Here he is to explain: ‘I have a new cut of a short film that I’m hoping to get some feedback on. Would you mind sharing with the locals? If anyone watches and wants to let me know how it’s landing (good or bad), they can email me at diediemaomao @gmail.com. I’ll give them a “special thanks” in the credits for their trouble. Here’s the link. Password: wendy. Take care, man. ** Brian O’Connell, Hey, B. My true pleasure, of course, on the galerie show. I think our easy new restrictions will be very short-lived. Like you, but differently since the powers-that-be here are relatively sane and cogent, we’re in for a quite rough next set of months. Bertolucci’s ‘The Conformist’ is a great film. I definitely second the recommendation. Bertolucci pretty much totally lost it in my opinion at a certain point, but all of his films up through ‘Luna’ are varying degrees of great. ‘The Conformist’ is one of his very best. So, yes, go for it, and I’d be interested to hear what you think, if you watch it and feel like sharing its impact. ** Gus, Hi, Gus! Very good to meet you, and thank you for stepping inside here, and consider the door eternally open. No, I haven’t read Kier-La Janisse’s ‘House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films’. What a title. I had never even heard of it until now. Thank you a lot, I’ll go chase it down. I haven’t seen ‘The Moor’s Head’, and wow, it must be out there and viewable somewhere. Thanks a ton for that tip too. Ha ha, good old Cubby Branch. Back in 2000, there were a series of events at NYU celebrating my ‘George Miles Cycle’ books, and one of the events involved artists and writers and so on reading from my work, and Thurston read those liner notes, which was one of the most amazing and funniest things I’ve ever seen. It’s on tape, but it’s not public for whatever reason. Anyway, thanks. That’s my favorite SY album. Yeah, so stick around if you feel like it. What are you up to? What’s going on with you? Take care. ** Right. Please rejoin the Seth Bogart fest in progress. See you tomorrow.