Achtung Baby!

"..why is life worth living?.."

(Isaac lying on the couch, speaking into the tape recorder) Isaac: An idea for a short story about ... um ... people in Manhattan who ... er ... are constantly creating these real unnecessary neurotic problems for themselves - because it keeps them from dealing with more unsolvable terrifying problems about ... er ... the universe - Um, tsch -- it's, uh ... well, it has to be optimistic. Well, all right, why is life worth living? That's a very good question. Um. Well, there are certain things I - I guess that make it worthwhile. Uh, like what? Okay. Um, for me ... oh, I would say ... what, Groucho Marx, to name one thing ... uh ummmm and Willie Mays, and um, uh, the second movement of the Jupiter Symphony, and ummmm ... Louie Armstrong's recording of "Potatohead Blues" ... umm, Swedish movies, naturally ... "Sentimental Education" by Flaubert ... uh, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra ... ummm, those incredible apples and pears by Cézanne ... uh, the crabs at Sam Wo's ... tsch, uh, Tracy's face ...Manhattan, 1979

THE RAMIFICATIONS OF SOMETHING SO UNUSUAL

THE RAMIFICATIONS OF SOMETHING SO UNUSUAL
by Anna Sunshine Ison

On Wednesday, they pulled a woman,
once-woman, out of the lake—
drowned who-knows-when
and turned into soap.
This is not the sort of transformation
we are taught to expect—
girls into birds, plastic surgery,
born-again Christians.
These changes we can deal with,
with little more than a stretch of belief.
But this. Bones become soft,
a face that fingers could reshape.
Is that what they did to bury her:
sculpt her into her original form
like Avicenna’s bear-mother
nosing her whelps? Or
is now the time for artistic license,
to gift her with a beauty she never had,
an apology for seeing her so undone?
I want to know if the coroner
found his hands unexpectedly clean
where he’d lifted her,
and if he plunged them into the muck
so he could have a stain to wash off
when he got back home.

From The Greensboro Review, Spring 2004
Art: (c) Aya Kato

Miyazaki's Howl

 
(Hauru no Ugoku Shiro)  Howl's Moving Castle

Music from the Score - (if you like the music in "Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain" you may like this)

Liz, Kim and I are overly excited about this movie. I saw it and while at first I wasn't that interested ( I was noticing too many Miyazaki staples and was becoming bored ) at some point it took a turn and completely pulled me in. "Princess Mononoke" remains my favorite Miyazaki movie because of all the action it has.

"Online Ghibli reports that according to the Nanjing Morning Post, Studio Ghibli has decided that the next feature movie project from the legendary Hideo Miyazaki ("Spirited Away", "Princess Mononoke") would be an adaptation of a children novel called "Wo diushile wode xiaonanhai (I Lost my Little Boy)," a new piece of work by a Chinese writer called Yishu."

+"I Lost My Little Boy" book cover
+ Illustrated Guide to the Studio Ghibli Museum
+ The Studio Ghibli visit

[ Suzanne ] gets around

[ Peter Gabriel -Suzanne ( Cohen cover) ]
[ Hope Sandoval - Suzanne ]
[ Lou Reed - I Love you, Suzanne ]

the many faces of Batman

BATMAN: COVER TO COVER - I don't have this book but I want it.
Commentary on personal favorites is provided by Batman Begins director Christopher Nolan, TV's first Batman Adam West, the voice of the Joker Mark Hamill, as well as comic book creators Neil Gaiman, Alex Ross etc etc.

+ Golden Age Batman Cover Gallery
+ Another Batman Cover Gallery goes all the way to 1994
+ from "Superman: The Complete History"

Gorillaz Get Around

Filter-Mini: The latest issue features Gorillaz, Mercury Rev, Tim Burgess vs. Tegan and Sara. Also,The Gorillaz track "Kids With Guns" will be featured on the O.C. tomorrow night.
+ Wikipedia: Gorillaz - " Gorillaz have earned the Guinness World Record for being the Most Successful Virtual Band "
+ GORILLAZ 'SEARCH FOR A STAR' COMPETITION
+ GORILLAZ-UNOFFICIAL...
+ Previously... [ Martina + Gorillaz  ]

[ Letters ]

{ photo: Let It Burn }

You never liked to get
The letters that I sent.
But now you've got the gist
Of what my letters meant.
You're reading them again,
The ones you didn't burn.
"The Letters" - Leonard Cohen

Letters always get burned
"Motion Picture Soundtrack" - Christopher O'Riley (Radiohead cover)

Woody + Scarlett x 2

Woody and Scarlett's Match Point isn't even out but they're ready to reunite again.

ALLENS CONFIDENCE BOOSTED BY JOHANSSON: Allen enthuses, "I'm very bullish about it and I'm usually not. I usually want to crawl into the ground after I make a film, almost invariably, but I'm very bullish about it because Scarlett Johansson is such a strong actress."

Trailer for "A Good Woman"

My sassy girl keeps being remade

The thing about my Korean crush Jeon Ji-hyeon is that a few of her movies are getting remade by Hollywood and I'm dying to see Hollywood's bright idea of an american version of Jeon Ji-hyeon. Actually they've already casted one of her roles, the female lead in the American remake of "Il Mare" is Sandra Bullock. I'm more interested in the remake of "My Sassy Girl": " DreamWorks has just announced that Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha will be remaking the Korean hit for Western audiences" (source). hmm...

Other Korean or *Hong Kong* remakes:

//Infernal Affairs becomes Scorsese's The Departed (WTF is up with this title?) with with Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson.

//The Eye becomes Hideo Nakata's The Eye with Tom Cruise

//Old Boy becomes Old Boy as directed by Justin Lin ( I vote for Nicholas Cage in the lead)

Speaking of Infernal Affairs and Jeon Ji-hyeon: Top-star Jeon Ji-hyeon has chosen the Hong Kong movie “Daisy,” directed by Andrew Lau, as her next production. She will play opposite Jeong Woo-seong, who played the lead in the movie “A Moment to Remember.” “Daisy” will be directed by Andrew Lau, who also directed the “Internal Affairs” series, while the script will be overseen by director kwak Jae-Yong, who directed “Windstruck.”

Leibovitz's Women @ the D

I was in Dallas this weekend but I didn't get a chance to go see Annie Leibovitz: Women. Thankfully it will be there until August so eventually I'll go. Who the hell knew there was a Women's Museum in Dallas? The Wall of Words looks interesting.