I know that “twinning” (har, har) ideas from film isn’t really the way forward for gaming. But all devices have their place, right? And it’s never wise to ignore something that has the potential to be a great source of inspiration. So. With that in mind, I’m starting a new series through which I’ll occasionally examine cinematic situations that have potential game mechanic-type applications.

This first time, I’d like to take a look at a scene from Wim Wenders’s Paris, Texas. 

In the film, Harry Dean Stanton plays a man estranged from his family. Stanton is trying to reconnect with his young son after an absence of four years. At first, he tries walking the boy home from school.

Now, I don’t recall exactly what preceeds Stanton’s arrival at the crosswalk, but, when he gets there, the boy pretends not to know him. This is a poignant moment: the audience is expecting some spark to be kindled, but, instead, it’s effectively blown out.

For whatever reason, I instantly tried to imagine how the situation might work were it represented in a video game. It’d almost have to involve the player being in a rush. To get there on time, say. But after working so hard on nailing the arrival, there’d be no rendezvous, no quietly joyful moment of reunion. Which might subvert expectations so much as to backfire. Perhaps the key here would be establishing context. Or, more to my thinking, lack thereof. Because I’d wager a sequence of this type might be most effective if the player’s prodded into rushing before they’re even aware of the reason. A child resembling the playable avatar would telegraph their relationship, and something so simple as a change in the avatar’s posture could communicate his or her disappointment at the snubbing.

Surely audiences would fill in the rest more vividly than any developer.

I suddenly found myself with a basketful of things to share, so here is a potpourri of links to explore in more depth:

The great Jerry Saltz, who has been a tireless champion for gender equality in the visual arts, has done his best with the 2010 Whitney Biennial: 52 percent women! Regina Hackett at Another Bouncing Ball and Jerry himself at New York Magazine.

Museums using new media: Some are farther along than others. Judith H. Dobrzynski at Real Clear Arts. On that same topic, if you are not familiar with Art Babble, time to discover this great site.

An online celebration at the New York Times of the remarkable Wim Wenders film, Wings of Desire. Leave your comment. I did.

The long term costs of the recent (and now ended) era of museum expansion (AKA “the Bilbao effect.”) Robin Pogrebin in the New York Times.

Blogger extraordinaire Maureen Doallas has highlighted me and my work in a posting that left me feeling speechlessly honored. Writing Without Paper.

And I can’t end today without thanking my children for sending us a sumptuous bouquet of Peruvian lilies. Thirty years ago Dave and I began this joint adventure called partnership, and the three extraordinary humans who came about because of that decision so long ago are and will always be the most miraculous gifts of my lifetime.

I love this movie…

Wim Wenders

He was born on 14 August 1945, Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He is a German film director. He went to a Film school and later became a film critic in Munich. He first grabbed the internationally attention with his film The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1971). His first commercial successful film was Paris, Texas (1984). As well as his black & white and color film Wings of Desire (1987). His most famous film was Social Club (1999). It is a documentary about a group of elderly Cuban musicians. The main theme of his film often about alienation rootlessness and searching for identity story. He is also a still photographer and a painter.

His interesting films

Hammett (1982)

The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1971)

Paris, Texas (1984)

Wings of Desire (1987)

Social Club (1999)

Wim Wenders, born in August 1945, is a German film director, playwright, author, photographer, and producer. His first film was “Summer in the City”. He later on made “The State of Things” that received positive critiques and went on to win several awards including the Golden Award at the Venice Film Festival. Other works by Wenders include “The Scarlet Letter”, “Reverse Angle”, and “Wings of Desire”. 

“Any film that supports the idea that things can be changed is a great film in my eyes.” - Wim Wenders

Wim Wenders’ Der Himmel über Berlin (a.k.a. Wings of Desire, if you like your titles a bit more on-the-nose, a.k.a. The Film That City Of Angels Is Just Barely Based On) is undoubtedly a beautiful film to look at. Its visuals are a love letter to Berlin as much as to black-and-white cinematography. It’s also a film containing many gems: the image of many, many angels hanging out at the library, watching over us; Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander sitting in a show car, comparing notes; their conversation about the history of the world; almost every scene that Ganz has with Peter Falk, and the conceit of Falk being an ex-angel himself. There are many quietly beautiful, poetic, even funny moments.

And yet, in spite of the accolades the film has garnered, even after two viewings I can’t shake the impression that it tries way too hard to be poetic, to be art. The worst offender is the poem that the film picks up again and again, Peter Handke’s “Lied vom Kindsein”, that interminable bit of pretentious doggerel that begins with “Als das Kind Kind war…”. Not only does it offer the appearance of depth rather than the real thing, Ganz also keeps falling into this childlike singsong, making it wholly insufferable. It’s a series of idealising clichés about the innocence of childhood that make me want to hunt down the poem’s titular child and send it off to boarding school.

What bothered me even more, though, is the trapeze artist that Bruno Ganz’ Damiel gives up his angelhood for. Her lines – both her thoughts and her dialogue late in the film with newly mortal Damiel – are painfully faux-deep, making me think that if I was Damiel and had just given up immortality for her, I’d feel pretty ticked off right now. That whole last dialogue seems to boil down to “The meaning of life lies entirely in man and woman having it off, and that’s what makes life, like, deep, man!”

I guess that’s my main problem: when the film doesn’t try its damnedest to be deep and poetic, it actually becomes these things. When it aims at depth, it comes off as an overly earnest transcript of one of those conversations first-year students have at 2pm in the morning after lots of cheap red wine. I also had these conversations, I enjoyed them, but there’s a difference between being young and drunk, as much on wine as on one’s sense of understanding of the world and all, and having to sit through them as an outside observer.

I’ll probably end up watching the film again, five years or so down the road, because there are so many people who love it dearly. Perhaps Der Himmel über Berlin just isn’t for me, at least not in its entirety, but I keep thinking there’s something I’ve missed. Or perhaps I missed the opportunity of seeing this film first when I was younger. “Als das Kind Kind war” and all that jazz…

Before His OPRAH WINFREY Kind/Style Of OPEN MIC At TRIBAL CAFE For AIDS Day, Fred VIDAL, PhD Sings FOR YOU! On The Web To His 164 NEXTCAT Connections, As LiFe Goes In Lalaland And The States!!

www.nextcat.com/fredvidal

TheY Are LOU REED Oriented, BuT Fred VIDAL WiTh The BAND MUSE, Will Be FOR YOU! InvolveD In A German GIRL StyLe Of SONG (another composition Of Fred KELLY).Like Beatles' NORVEGIAN WOOD.

On TWITTER FV: http://twitter.com/fredvidal

Check out Tribal Cafe – Open Mike at www.Eventful.com http://is.gd/58XXK #EVtriba1201 The Sweet Troubled Soul, music = comedy + poetry!

This EVENING, BeginninG at 8pm, Hosted by Sheng Peng & Sona Ovasapyan! FV SonG Will BE VIDEOTAPED By Team FV YoutubE And For YOUTUBE only!!

www.youtube.com/bramstocker77

Fred VIDAL On www.eventful.com, GooD SiTe Where INDIAN TouR Is RevealeD NOW! Lalaland Is A Great Expression MeaninG MusiC And More (Comedy)!

TIMEFRAMES: LALALAND? Pejorative Word? NO, Not According To Us! sincerely, IT’s MOTTO Times Frames Beginning NoW, ‘Make Movies in LalaLand’!

‘Make Movies in LalaLand’ TIMEFRAMES: COMEDY, even if + pejorative, Means Comedy IMPRO SHOW, Word CoOl, To Be A Comedian Is To BE An Artist!

Q&A: WhaT Else?? Did Fred VIDAL Called His ConTacT BEVERLY HILLS And Does He Schedule A MeetinG WiTH This Contact-Friend? i’d like to know!

Fred VIDAL In Menilmontant, Closde To JIM MORRISON Pere Lachaise Cemetery, BUT ALIVE, Was/Is Already At Work WitH GUITAR SEAGUL, As Fallen Angels, Friends Of Him, Around Them, Play The Trumpet!

basically YES! He’s in London (london) Now 4 ReHearsAL With BAnD rock MUSE (Buy CD like HiM!), He wilL Confirm ABouT that 2!! (some Buddie)

Important Texts Explaining The Pictures Chosen On Blog. Fred In MENILMONTANT (Long Hair, Acoustic, No shirt) Chosen 4 Homage MORRISON + RocK

ManaGement: Picture FRED KELLY no shirt Is ICONOGRAPHY Best Years, On location In Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders Film), But FRANCE 2, in 1990’s!!

StellaMcCartney Support World Aids Day with a Stella for Gap Red Campaign tshirt. Profits go to the Global Fund to fight Aids in Africa http://bit.ly/6Z4tvh

http://www.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=17077&vid=1&pid=696596

@StellaMcCartney I’ll BE There, As The WorlD neeDs Us To Fight Vs This Illness That is Worse Than CANCER. Great What You DO!! Impressed! FV

Stella McCartney? No Reply!?? It’s A SonG of HeR FATHER, NO REPLY On For Sale! Must BE PreTTy BUSY, Like Us, SoundS GooD What She’s DOING!!

PARIS, TEXAS: Screenplay Sam SHEPARD (Fred VIDAL Met In Cannes 80’s 4 FOOL 4 LOVE) With Nastassja KINSKI (friend myspace?) & Dean Stockwell

Ernst Wilhelm “Wim” Wenders (born 14 August 45) German film director, playwright, author, producer. Began with rise New German Cinema 1960’s

Paris, Texas = 1984 Palme d’Or winning film directed by Wim Wenders. Screenplay by L.M. Kit Carson/playwright Sam Shepard, score Ry Cooder!!

din nou despre Wenders. obsesia drumului, initierea, cercurile prin care trece individul de-a lungul vietii. ce imi place este detasarea. reuseste sa spuna povestea fara a o dramatiza in exces. viata e plina de isterie, cateodata si filmele. cadrele lui respira altceva. calm. poate, disimulat cateodata. iar coloana sonora te face sa te asezi si sa vrei sa pleci, in acelasi timp, la drum. vad in multe din filmele lui drama artistului, obsesia pentru imagine, dorinta aia acuta de a transpune ceea ce vezi. odata cu pornirea camerei realitatea ta dispare. frica. niciodata fotografia nu iti arata ceea ce ai vazut. angst. inca o poveste, doua.
Lisbon story si Wings of desire, inca, imi plac cel mai mult.

Alice in the cities
Kings of the Road

"Du"-Cover mit Bruno Ganz Abb.: Du Kulturmedien AG

Die (noch wenige Tage) aktuelle Ausgabe der Schweizer Kulturzeitschrift “Du” beschäftigt sich im Schwerpunkt mit dem Schauspieler Bruno Ganz. Weggefährten wie Wim Wenders und Otto Sander kommen zu Wort, Ganz selbst natürlich auch, und es gibt viele wunderschöne Fotos aus seinen Filmen, von Dreharbeiten und Theaterinszenierungen. “Du” zeigt beim Durchblättern sehr beeindruckend, was eine gut gemachte Zeitschrift bieten kann: Überformat, gutes Papier, klares Layout, großformatige Fotos, die im Internet nie so wirken würden.

Nachteil des Ganzen: der Preis. “Du” ist wirklich nur für Besserverdienende bezahlbar, die bereit sind, für eine angenehme Lektüre auch einen hohen Betrag zu bezahlen. 15 Euro kostet das Magazin in Deutschland. Damit übersteigt es meine preisliche Toleranzgrenze leider deutlich. Acht, neun Euro ist das Allerhöchste, was ich in Ausnahmefällen bereit bin, für eine Zeitschrift auszugeben. Trotzdem schön, dass es solche Prestige-Zeitschriften in den Zeiten des Print-Sterbens noch gibt.

Poster from Wings of Desire (via Wikipedia)

Last Saturday, Kristen and I were talking about the music history workshops we taught with some bad-ass GRCA alums for the Girls Now! conference. As you can imagine, it’s hard to pare down nearly a century’s worth of female contributions to popular music into a 75-minute PowerPoint presentation and have it be fun and interactive as well. Thus, we made sure to include many music videos and performance clips that hopefully engaged our girl attendees. One such clip was Christina Aguilera’s Grammy performance of James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” apparently beloved by Patti Smith. Afterwards, Kristen mentioned that it was possible to do an entire section on cover songs and wished we had more time to highlight and discuss more interesting examples.

Too right, Kristen. In fact, I think I started this section of the blog to cull together noteworthy cover songs, as I think covers are fascinating. What does song selection and interpretation say about the artist? How do their personae, generic alignments, and identity markers give the source material new meaning? What does it mean for Solange Knowles — aka Ms. “Fuck the Industry (Signed Sincerely)” — to cover an indie rock song like Dirty Projectors’ “Stillness Is The Move,” which was originally inspired by Wim Wenders’s Wings of Desire and includes a sample of “Bumpy’s Lament” in her version? What does it mean for Cat Power to adopt the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” as a signature song and create several arrangements of it ranging from stripped-down folk to soulful rave-up? How does Tori Amos blow apart Eminem’s misogynistic murder fantasy in ”‘97 Bonnie and Clyde” by orienting herself as the dead wife in the trunk? 

Tori Amos as Bonnie; image courtesy of hereinmyhead.com

(Note: For further insight into the last song mentioned, I recommend reading Lori Burns and Alyssa Woods’s “Authenticity, Appropriation, Signification: Tori Amos on Gender, Race, and Violence in Covers of Billie Holiday and Eminem.” Also, I might need to get around to unpacking the cover art for Amos’s Strange Little Girls at some point.)

Continuing why I hope to be an on-going discussion, tonight I selected two songs originally recorded by James Brown and Sam Cooke. ”It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” has always seemed to me to be an ode to chauvinism. ”A Change Is Gonna Come,” however, is an anthem for social change that came to define the Civil Rights Movement. But think about what additional meanings these songs may have when performed by Christina Aguilera and Sharon Jones.  

Boycott notes: Wim Wenders says no (via Engage).

Antifa notes: Andy’s latest edition focuses on the UK, and includes the Anarchist Federation on the useless liberal anti-fascists of Unite Against Fascism. Andy also has a moving tribute to murdered Russian anti-fascist Ivan “Vanya Kostolom” Khutorskoy, and a piece on the 9/11 Truth Cultists.

Added: Blood libel news: Philosemite on the Bostrom meme.

I’ve talked before about my love of portraits. And i’ve talked about how we’re never given enough time with the person, and are always expected to bring the absolute best back.
So i’m not going to say anything this time.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Wim Wenders!

Pra todos que estão sofrendo com esse calor de Brasília.

Uma singela homenagem ao melhor filme do Wim Wenders e ao Ry Cooder, que fez essa que é uma das melhores trilhas sonoras da história do cinema.

And now there’s a T-shirt to prove it. Hiney shirts at CafePress

Founs in H1N1: It’s Pronounced “Hiney”

Wim Wenders closing speech – I’m talking about us, Europeans!

Closing speech by Wim Wenders, President of the European Film Academy, during the European Culture Forum.

The speech was read out by EFA director Ms Döring, and is available for download as a PDF on the European Commission website.

The think tank took place under the patronage of the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, who actually joined us on that occasion and took a very active and very outspoken part in it.

and Erkan’s rounup of interesting things from the web:

A new type of activism is being born,

Is activism dead – or is it blooming? Some look at the G20 demos or student occupations and see a vibrant youthful movement, taking on the injustices of the day. Others look at the same gatherings and see only a confused bedraggled crowd, a mere shadow of 1960s mobilisations.

Fans and Fears of ‘Lecture Capture’

DENVER — If professors record their lectures and put them online, will students still come to class?

That question came up in two different sessions at the 2009 Educause Conference here on Friday. And in both cases, the panelists cited research indicating that students’ likelihood of skipping class has no correlation with whether a professor decides to capture her lecture and post it the Web.

via: Venn diagram of mythical creatures

Somatic surveillance: corporeal control through information networks

from Social Science Open Access Repository by Monahan, Torin; Wall, Tyler

The politics of paranoia: paranoid positioning and conspiratorial narratives in the surveillance society

from Social Science Open Access Repository by Harper, David

Science fiction as a predictor of the present

Tin House, a literary magazine, asked me to introduce the current science fiction issue with an overview of the field. I wrote them an essay called “Radical Presentism,” about the way that science fiction reflects the present more than the future.

Love of Shopping is Not a Gene: exposing junk science and ideology in Darwinian Psychology

Anne Innis Dagg’s “Love of Shopping” is Not a Gene is a scathing, entertaining and extremely accessible geneticist’s critique of “Darwinian Psychology” — that is, the “science” of ascribing human behavior to genetic inevitability. Dagg, a biologist/geneticist at the University of Waterloo, identifies Darwinian Psychology as a nexus of ideological pseudoscience cooked to justify political agendas about the inevitability of social inequality, especially racial and sexual inequality.

How networked public spheres die

The Internet has often been praised for allowing new, fluid and hard-to-control public spaces to emerge. Often, these new public spaces would help to bring attention to stories/developments that may go unnoticed otherwise.

This has certainly been the case in Russia, where the vast majority of journalists had to tone down their criticism of the government for fear of being fired or worse. LiveJournal, by far the most influential blogging platform in the country, allowed dissidents to express their views, share news that didn’t make it to the mainstream media, or bring public attention to important activist campaigns that needed funding or participants.

New Report Debunks Common Myths about Energy
Source: Pacific Research Institute

The Pacific Research Institute, a free market think tank based in San Francisco, released a new report debunking the common myths about energy in America. Top Ten Energy Myths, by Thomas Tanton, senior fellow in Energy Studies, confronts ten popular myths about America’s energy sources, uses, and risks.

A Chennai-based Indian agency brings us a series of anti-smoking posters that compares smoking related deaths to those caused by guns, drugs, poison, etc. Another example of images speaking louder than the statistics themselves.found at So Much More

A reluctant and fearful West

found in Week in Review: November 15, 2009

Oxford Names “Unfriend” as Word of the Year

And here’s how Oxford  defines the Word of the Year:

unfriend – verb – To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.

Wow! It looks like the folks at Oxford did a lot of “unfriending” of their Facebook friends this year that they decide to name “unfriend” as Word of the Year.

FILME: ASAS DO DESEJO

Título Original: Der Himmel ünder Berlin
Gênero: Drama
Duração: 130 minutos
Ano de Lançamento: (Alemanha) 1987
Estúdio: Argos Films / Road Movies Filmproduktion / Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Distribuidora: Orion Classics
Direção: Wim Wenders
Roteiro: Peter Handke e Wim Wenders
Produção: Anatole Dauman e Wim Wenders
Elenco
Bruno Ganz (Damiel)
Solveig Dommartin (Marion)
Otto Sander (Cassiel)
Curt Bois (Homer)
Peter Falk (Peter Falk)
Hans Martin Stier (Homem à beira da morte)
Sigurd Rachman (Suicida)
Beatrice Manowski (Prostituta)
Lajos Kovács (Técnico de Marion)
Bruno Rosaz (Palhaço)
Sinopse: Na Berlim pós-guerra, dois anjos perabulam pela cidade. Invisíveis aos mortais, eles lêem seus pensamentos e tentam confortar a solidão e a depressão das almas que encontram. Entretanto, um dos anjos, ao se apaixonar por uma trapezista, deseja se tornar um humano para experimentar as alegrias de cada dia.

Comentário: se um filme se traduz por uma perfeição técnica e de conteúdo, é esse. Wenders construiu um poema em forma de filme.

MÚSICA: MIDLAKE – ROSCOE

so the three films i’m going to talk about are (in the order they are to be viewed, not in the order in which i love them):

in the mood for love

marie antoinette

wings of desire

these films are all favorites of mine, all time favorite favorites, best movies ever and i can’t pick which one would be my all time #1. it’s too hard. they have influenced how i think, feel, dress and view the world. i could do a full on blog for each one. the only way to settle it would be to have them fight for my favor but no matter who won i would be disappointed. sigh.

so instead i’m going to focus on the amazing fashion/style of each movie and talk about how to pick out an outfit from each one. now, this is an imaginary internet shopping outfit, i’ll list real prices but nothing is really affordable. i imagine the outfits i pick out to be like inspiration for you to go out and find your own at your local vintage shops and nordstrom racks.

i wish, sometimes, that this blog was one of those blogs where i am like a maria von trapp of  fashion and i can say “hey! remember that amazing white coat rachel weiss wore in the brothers bloom???? well, here is how to make it in a half hour with the fabric from your old sofa and six nickels”. but guys, i am just not that girl. so enjoy.

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE

as i mentioned before, this is a movie that is seriously up for best movie ever award. it’s so beautiful and tragic with the most amazing costumes and music that it might melt you into the floor. it did me. hong kong 1960’s. hot, hot, hot tony leung. unrequited love that is so soft you can barely hear it but it’s deafening. is this another one of my quiet films? you betcha.

wong kar wai, i think, is all about the skin tight, crazy, crazy tight cheongsam. it’s what he puts all his ladies in and they all look amazing. if you are going to try this look, be sure to either have gone to the gym and dieted for at least two years before. like that all grapefruit diet. it was really hard to find cheongsam that didn’t look like bad prom night, but here it is a beautiful one clocking in at $129.99:

if you are looking for a gorgeous cheongsam of your own, please do not be deterred by the picture of paris hilton that instantly pops up when you google “cheongsam”. there are a lot of affordable ones and to achieve the full wong kar wai treatment, you’ll have to take it to be tailored. but you really can’t argue with those lines. they are beautiful. from here i’ll take you to proper accessories to give yourself the look of the heroine mrs. chan at the climax of the movie: stark reds and blacks.

stella mccartney red trench for $658. love those classic sharp lapels.

14k white gold and black pearl dangle earrings for $312

a black miu miu leather nappa shoulder bag for  $1,150

and dont’ forget your pumps! beautiful christian louboutin new decoltissimo 85 patent pumps for $565:if you want to go chan to the max, you’ll also need some silk stockings, a beehive and some killer black eyeliner. i suggest calvin klien for lingerie, mac for make up and some aqua net for hair (i used to have a roommate with a beehive and she swore by that stuff).

MARIE ANTOINETTE

so if you have been reading this blog for a bit you will know i am obsessed with sofia coppola’s marie antoinette. i have already talked a lot about how incredibly ornate yet quiet this film is. it’s really astonishing. and it is so, so beautiful and detailed. eating with your eyes, i call that. but i’ll shut up now and let you see for yourself, if you have not already.

now, all the blogs and magazine articles i checked out in prep for this blog in regards to marie antoinette inspired fashion, which seemed to peak around 2006 (but in my opinion is always in style) were all like “OMG! don’t over do it, pick ONE color you like or do ONE loud thing that is MA inspired and tone the rest down or you’ll look costume-y.” and you know what i say to that? FUCK THAT SHIT. i think if you’re going to pull together a marie antoinette inspired number you better look DECKED. it’s marie antoinette for crying out loud! i don’t want to see that you put on a jeweled cameo necklace over your black turtle neck because you were “inspired” by marie antoinette. no, no. if you are channeling the great MA, you better turn it out. that being said, i give you my marie antoinette outfit….waist up first:

first, pompadour your hair until it looks like candy floss.

then some tarina tarantino tulle flower clips scattered about in baby blue, clocking in at $70

pretty dangling pink earrings from betsy johnson for $41

next, a stack of fake pearls. necklaces, from top: pearl-and-chain necklace, $1488, pearl-and-safety-pin necklace, $963, tom binns; single-strand pearls, price upon request, mikimoto. stolen from marie claire, i think.

personal fave, the ostrich-feather vest, $3,275,  givenchy by riccardo tisci

underneath which will live this beautiful knit corset by ditu who only gives you prices and sizes on requests.

now waist down all valentino, poor you…

valentino red silk organza miniskirt for $495

then scare yourself up some baby blue tights and finally, finally, stuff your pretty manicured tootsies into…

these beauties are hot off the spring 2010 runway and i don’t have a price. i’m guessing they will cost you some kind of organ or access to your dna.

last step, powder your nose and rouge your cheeks. mac can help there (they don’t pay me to promote them so hard and i don’t work there, i swear, i just believe in the goodness of mac). and you have marie ala 2009. voila!

WINGS OF DESIRE

i feel like wim wenders, the director of wings of desire, would not be super happy to see his beloved ode to berlin end up on a blog that is mostly-ish about fashion but, whatever. this film isn’t especially fashion heavy like the other two but it is so beautiful, every word, every picture. it’s a love story to a city. it’s a love story to love. it’s a love story to life.

mostly black and white, it will occasionally blast into color and give you the greatest of shocks. “the world is such an amazing place!”,  you will think, “i didn’t know!”. set with adoration in the bleakness of berlin late 80’s (with a surprise nick cave guest spot! could this movie BE cooler?) it follows the story of an angel who becomes fascinated  by a circus performer, the etherial marion the acrobat. played beautifully by solveig dommartin. columbo is also in it. it’s amazing. there’s really no key outfit to this movie, just some fun bright circus colors, the colors of berlin and the graffiti and the architecture there. so i just had fun playing with what i thought marion would dress like.

it was hard to post something that didn’t look like porn off the american apparel website (which, sadly and gladly? i don’t know how i feel about that place, is where you go for 80’s inspired basic pieces) but i found this cute red turtle neck dress for $32…but remember when buying from AA always buy like 6 sizes bigger then you are. okay, enough with the AA frowning upon.

i loved this beautiful, exquisite burberry coat (can i get enough burberry coats? no i cannot) in purple over the red, having fun with my circus theme but not going too far. plus, marion wears trenches in the film. everyone wears trenches in the film. this coat is $1,084.

next we got some steve madden duffled boots with a fun fringe that isn’t too western for europe i don’t think clocking in at $159.90

finally, accessories. well, she’d need some sensible black stockings for that outfit because berlin is COLD in the winter time, she could pop into KaDeWe for those suckers and you could fly to berlin and do the same (or go to macys). marion loves big red lips, so again i’d send her to mac, because they do that well for people who understand lipstick (not me, sad to report).  then we have silver art deco earrings by hq design for $157

and last but not least for that wild red, pre-tori amos (tori amos copied it) hair i have some fun peacock feathers. marion needs feathers because she is an acrobat and closer to angels then she knows.

even though this picture looks very fancy, i can guarantee that YOU who are probably closer to bankruptcy then a glam career with the circus, can make that headband for under $7. why do i say this? because despite my earlier “i’m not maria von trapp” bit, i did make two feather headbands with a friend this summer that are NICER then the ones i see for sale for $30 and we made them for under $5. so there’s my dab of thrify this post. and here’s my dab of columbo, who really makes the film.

and please, please, pretty please, go check out these movies if you have not yet! they are so wonderful and beautiful and will make you feel all kinds of sad pangs and wild joys. if you watch them for the first time, i would love to hear you thoughts.

ain’t art grand?

“Essential experiences” è una mostra collettiva internazionale inaugurata il 13 novembre a Palazzo Riso a Palermo. Numerosi artisti contemporanei (1) si confrontano con ”Il trionfo della morte“, opera di inestimabile valore conservata a Palazzo Abatellis. Il tema della morte (al quale fanno riferimento le esperienze essenziali del titolo)  caratterizza i secoli XIII e XIV ed è ovviamente in  relazione col diffondersi, su vasta scala, della peste nera. È il sintomo, talvolta ossessivo, di una società vacillante di fronte a un pericolo che, nonostante il relativo progresso, non è in grado di fronteggiare in alcun modo. V’è una pur minima relazione tra quel tempo e quel mondo con il nostro? A giudicare dagli isterici annunci di pandemie globali, vaccini in ritardo, apocalissi annunciate (ci si mettono pure i Maya), asteroidi in rotta di collisione con il nostro pianeta, si direbbe di si. Basta scorrere l’elenco recente dei morbi letali che hanno allarmato l’opinione pubblica: HIV, Ebola, fascite necrotizzante, encefalopatia spongiforme bovina, aviaria, H1N1. Senza contare il tristemente noto Millennium Bug che ha guastato la notte di San Silvestro ad alcune decine di migliaia di operatori informatici.

Sento per questo tema l’attrazione dello studioso d’arte, ma sono totalmente immune al fascino dell’apocalittico. A scopo puramente apotropaico citerò quindi un’altra opera conservata a Palazzo Abatellis a Palermo che è, al contrario, una formidabile epifania divina in un corpo di florida, incantevole, bellezza: “L’Annunciata” di Antonello da Messina. Il sacro è presente in modo anomalo rispetto alla tradizione  (l’angelo nunziante non si vede) e noi siamo invitati a meditare non tanto sul sacrificio del nascituro quanto sul presente, radioso, trionfo di vita. E se questo non bastasse ciascuno ricorra pure ai rituali d’obbligo.

L’affresco intitolato “Il trionfo della morte” fu staccato in quattro pezzi durante la seconda guerra mondiale perché danneggiato, nel 1944, dagli eventi bellici. Non si hanno notizie certe sull’autore, forse un maestro d’oltralpe ricoverato nell’Ospedale Grande e Nuovo di Palermo ove si trovava originariamente il dipinto.

La scena è resa con efficace crudezza. La morte, in groppa a un cavallo che, seppur scheletrico appare dotato di temibile energia, irrompe diagonalmente in un giardino di delizie, lussureggiante, gremito di uomini illustri (un papa e l’imperatore) di aristocratici, religiosi, paggi e dame di corte. A far loro compagnia anche sovrani orientali e un giurista, Bartolo di Sassoferrato, identificato dalla scritta sul libro che impugna.  Quel che sorprende è il modo con il quale le vittime, senza alcun ordine, sono colpite: non si tratta infatti di un modo diretto, la morte potrebbe senza fatica impugnare la falce che penzola, inutile, al suo fianco; potrebbe perfino calpestare i corpi con gli zoccoli del suo furioso destriero. Utilizza invece un arco e le frecce. Perché? Potrebbe essere un riferimento all’antica credenza popolare che riteneva causa del contagio pestilenziale la puntura di frecce. Come mai le vittime sono tutte colpite al collo, o sul capo? È forse l’allusione al contagio attraverso le vie aeree come avviene per la peste polmonare? Le scene di caccia in alto sono un omaggio alla vita cortese o un riferimento a San Vito, protettore dalla peste raffigurato sovente con due cani? In alto a destra una preziosa fontana (lo è di fatto in quanto oggetto architettonico di pregio e simbolicamente in quanto allusione alla “fonte della vita”) lascia fluire la sua acqua in un rivolo funesto. Realizzato con la cura di un miniaturista borgognone  o fiammingo l’affresco rimane, insieme a quello del cimitero monumentale di Pisa, uno dei più terrificanti moniti che mai artista abbia dipinto.

Aggiungo tre clips da Youtube: due frammenti dal Settimo Sigillo di Bergman e il terzo dal film “Palermo shooting” di Wenders che, in alcune scene, mostra il “Trionfo della morte”.

1) tra i quali  Gilbert & George, GloriaFriedmann, William Kentridge, Anselm Kiefer, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Paolo Grassino, Kevin Francis Gray, Koji Tanada, Lee Ufan, Roman Opalka, Jan Fabre ,Giuseppe Penone, Gunther Uecker e Kimsooja.