#Alain Berliner

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[badgaymovies]

Deprisa, Deprisa (1981)

Deprisa, Deprisa by #CarlosSaura, "exciting youth rebellion caper",

CARLOS SAURA Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBBB Spain/France, 1981. Elías Querejeta Producciones Cinematográficas, Les Films Molière. Screenplay by Carlos Saura. Cinematography by Teo Escamilla. Produced by Elías Querejeta. Production Design by Antonio Belizón. Costume Design by Maiki Marin. Film Editing by Pablo G. del Amo. Carlos Saura continues his pessimistic view of life after Franco in this…

[arcimboldisworld]

Alain Claude Sulzer - Doppelleben.

Alain Claude Sulzer - Doppelleben. #Roman #Biografie #EdmonddeGoncourt #JulesdeGoncourt #prixgoncourt #galianiverlagberlin #literatur #lesen #paris #frankreich #rezension #buch #bücher

Man fragt sich schon, warum ein Schweizer Autor sich mit dem Leben von Edmond und Jules de Goncourt beschäftigt und hierzu einen Roman veröffentlicht. Also eigentlich fragt man sich, warum sich bisher kein französischer Autor mit diesen beiden doch sehr skurrilen Brüdern beschäftigt hat. However, nun ist “Doppelleben” im Galiani Verlag in Berlin erschienen und die Lektüre lohnt sich sehr… (more…)

[probablyasocialecologist]

The concept of the new antisemitism was popularized in The New Anti-Semitism, which was published by the Anti-Defamation League in 1974, was given some modest intellectual heft by the Orientalist Bernard Lewis in his 1986 book Semites and Anti-Semites, and has since been mainstreamed in some “working definitions” of antisemitism, from that deployed by the European Union Military Committee to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s highly controversial definition. The thrust of the new antisemitism thesis is that Israeli military aggression was really self-defense and that solidarity toward Palestinians was really antisemitism. Thus the French essayist Alain Finkielkraut could describe 2002, when many people protested against Israel’s ravaging of the West Bank during Operation Defensive Shield, as a “Kristallyear”; four years later, Lewis compared the atmosphere resulting from Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 2006 to that of 1938. Those statements are functionally antisemitic. Most definitions of antisemitism, “working” or otherwise, agree that it is antisemitic to fail to distinguish between the state of Israel and Jews. It follows as surely as night follows day, that it is antisemitic to fail to distinguish between opposition to the state of Israel on internationalist, anti-colonial, and anti-racist grounds and hostility to the Jews as such. But Israel apologia depends precisely on obliterating the distinction between itself and Jews. Israel must represent itself, no matter how many Jewish people reject its embrace or protest against it, as “the state of the Jews,” the “Jew of nations,” the national self-defense of a people who could only exist elsewhere as a “foreign” element. That is what conservative politicians around the world are doing when they criminalize Palestine solidarity on the spurious basis of opposing antisemitism; that is what Britiain’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is doing when he talks as if all Jews support Israel; that is what authorities in Berlin and France are doing when they ban Palestine protests. They may not be desecrating cemeteries or synagogues, but their logic is the same as that of some of those who do.

[eddie-redmayne-italian-blog]

New Article Interview!!

Tonys Roundtable: Rachel McAdams, Kelli O’Hara, Leslie Odom Jr., Sarah Paulson, Daniel Radcliffe and Eddie Redmayne on Broadway Paths, Parts and Pet Peeves

The talented sextet — nominated for 'Mary Jane,' 'Days of Wine and Roses,' 'Purlie Victorious,' 'Appropriate,' 'Merrily We Roll Along' and 'Cabaret,' respectively — sat down with THR ahead of the 77th Tony Awards.

BY SCOTT FEINBERG

Ph. JESSE ILAN KORNBLUTH

Eddie, you grew up in England but made it to New York when you were still very young… EDDIE REDMAYNE I was a kid of the ’80s in London, which meant the mega-musicals were a massive deal — the [Andrew] Lloyd Webbers and the [Alain] Boubil and [Claude-Michel] Schonbergs. The first theater I saw — I was aged about 7 — was Cats, and I remember the sets, these gigantic tomato ketchup things, and then it would turn in the round, and then suddenly cats appeared at my feet and scared the living daylights out of me. And I was completely seduced. PAULSON That’ll do it. REDMAYNE Exactly, some ’80s leotards and some cracking songs — talking of which, Cats: The Jellicle Ball is about to start here! PAULSON Sign me up — to watch it! [Laughs.] REDMAYNE But I remember, I instinctively just loved it so much. My parents, for my birthday, would take me to see one of these shows, and — this is slightly embarrassing to admit — I remember I would weep at the interval because I knew I only had half of it left. As far as New York was concerned? We were brought up on American culture, so seeing this city, it was the zenith of aspiration. When I came in my early teens or whatever, I remember coming to Broadway, and to this day, as we walk on the way to work from the subway, you walk past Times Square, and it just has this thing, doesn’t it? It’s electric, and it’s vibrant, and it never loses that “Come on in!” Its pulse is pulling you in. And so yeah, it was always something that I aspired to.

Eddie, in Cabaret you play The Emcee at the Kit Kat Club in Berlin as the Nazis come to power. The show has been around since 1966, and the film version came out in 1972, but your version is, from what I’ve gathered, very deliberately different than prior incarnations with Joel Grey, Alan Cumming and others. And you have your own long history with it… REDMAYNE I played The Emcee when I was about 15 years old at school — which feels a bit inappropriate now, I think. I didn’t know Cabaret when I first did it, so I watched the film and listened to all the recordings and was just stunned by it. It seduced me. It moved me. It made me laugh, and it made me think, “That’s what I dream of when I go to the theater.” And even though I didn’t necessarily understand all those things when I was a kid, it really stuck with me. Then, I did it again at the Edinburgh Festival when I was about 19 in a production in this grimy venue; we were out flyering every day trying to persuade people to come to the festival dressed in latex and PVC, and then at night we would do the show at 8:00 in the evening, and it would finish at 11:00, and then we’d have half an hour and do another show. And then the people who created that venue at the Edinburgh Festival — they’re called The Underbelly, and it became their business, these site-specific comedy shows — became really successful in London. About nine years ago, they asked me, “Would you ever consider doing this again?” And since then I’d seen every production of Cabaret that I could touch. I saw the Sam Mendes production in Barcelona, in Spanish; I’d seen Alan do it with Emma Stone so stunningly here; I’ve seen the Rufus Norris production; and I just love it. So, when they approached me about doing it, I thought, “I would love to, but only if we’re going to do something that hasn’t been seen or a new take on it.” And I’d just seen this production of Summer and Smoke in London, directed by Rebecca Frecknall, that had blown my mind — it was so poised, and it was stunningly designed by a guy called Tom Scott — so I went and spoke to Frecks and she said, “I’d love to do it.” But at this point, we didn’t have the rights. It’s impossible to get the rights to Cabaret — everyone dreams of doing it! So it became one of those pipe dreams that was never going to happen. But, even at that stage, we wanted to do it site-specific, so we’d found this old music hall in London underneath a train station in Angel, which basically now looked like a concrete car park in the shape of the Globe Theatre, and we thought, “If we could take people down fire escapes, and then the show could turn into Bergheim afterward and into a club, could that be interesting?” Then COVID happened. Afterward, the producers, ATG, who had jumped on board, said, “Look, we’ve got all these theaters that have been sitting empty. Could we ever take the experiential idea of taking an audience to an evening where, once they step over the threshold, they pass dancers and musicians and get discombobulated into a world where, by the time they reach the show proper, they’ve left all their troubles behind?” And I’ve always loved the backstage of theaters and seeing the grime and the grot behind the presentation. So that’s what we dug into.

And on Broadway, you guys basically invite people to arrive at 6:45 p.m. for what you call a prologue, and for over an hour before you ever show up onstage, bars are open and dancers are dancing and a whole vibe is created — it’s really its own show. REDMAYNE The dancers are extraordinary. Our choreographer, Julia Cheng, comes from a clubbing background, so one of the things we’re trying to do with the show is, although it’s very specifically set in its period, the echoes are so tangible now, and so the dance vocabulary is from waacking, from voguing, from contemporary club culture in the same way as the costumes. We’re not going, “This happened then; it can never happen again.” The costumes refer to contemporary fashions. There aren’t lots of Nazis in Nazi uniforms. It’s all trying to go, “Wait. There are regressions, things that we’ve talked about now, powers and rights being taken away and pulled back, and the loss of individuality.” Hopefully, the evening makes you think.

REDMAYNE I certainly agree with you about the physical costs. What I find interesting about doing Cabaret in the musical theater world is it demands a different set of skills that I’ve not necessarily harbored all my life and trained all my life. And whilst I look forward to serving this extraordinary piece every night, I’m filled with fear of whether technically I’m going to be capable to serve that. My wife, as I was having a complete meltdown in the lead-up to doing this, was back in London and reading Andre Agassi’s memoir [Open] — O’HARA Oh, it’s the best memoir! REDMAYNE And there’s a passage in it in which he talks about going to a musical on Broadway and how he relates to musical theater people because it’s that monastic, athletic living of having to eat, sleep and breathe something. My wife was sending it to me basically going, “Come on, you’re like Agassi!” But I’ve found that nothing upsets me more than when I have to go onstage to serve this stunning score in this extraordinary part in a beautiful — or I hope it’s a beautiful — production, and you are worried that you don’t have the facility to serve it to its full potential.

Does your ability to handle the demands of these parts vary depending on specific days of the week?

PAULSON Can I ask a question? Does anybody else loathe when people come on a Tuesday?

MCADAMS Yes!

PAULSON I hate the Tuesday show! When you come to see me on a Tuesday, I am so upset. People are like, “Lady, this was the time I could come…”

I would have assumed that on Tuesday, having had Monday off, you’re at your freshest…

O’HARA No. You’re not warm.

PAULSON A Tuesday, to me, I just feel like I’m finding my sea legs for the first 20 minutes of the play.

MCADAMS Yeah, you only had one day off, but it feels like a month.

O’HARA Tuesday’s not a good day. Don’t come on Tuesday.

REDMAYNE Guys! We need people to come on Tuesdays! [laughs and then jokingly continues] It’s my favorite night of the week!

RADCLIFFE It could go either way. It either feels like, “Oh, I’m back and I feel fresh,” or “I feel like I’ve never done the show before.”

Right. When I saw that, and ever since, I have said, “This is the greatest voice I’ve ever heard.” It was a great show. But it didn’t last very long. You never know what goes into these things — I read something where Leslie said that if Hamilton had come along five years earlier, who knows if even it would’ve clicked. It may be about just catching the zeitgeist. So I just wonder the degree to which you guys think about these things…

ODOM I’d love to hear you [O’Hara] talk about it because I —

O’HARA Why? Because this one closed too? [Laughs]

ODOM When I came to see you guys, man, did I love it so much.

O’HARA Listen, this musical was about alcoholism. Deep, dark alcoholism. And a love story, but riddled with this third player, right? So it wasn’t for everybody. I knew that it wasn’t the most commercial thing. It was an art piece, and I was so proud of that, actually. And we’re lucky that it had a space on Broadway for even a minute. But what killed me is that I felt like the population that needed it — us all being the daughter or having had that mother or knowing that father or whatever it was — I was worried that we hadn’t reached them. I sometimes worry that the business can be very formulaic, especially in how we sell things. And I was concerned that we weren’t reaching the audience, the whole new generation of sober-curious people, and people that don’t usually come to theater, or whole organizations that thrive and survive on sobriety or that need to have the conversation constantly or to see themselves in a story.

We were being told to sell it as a love story. We were deceiving people as they walked in the door, and I’m saying this out loud because it was one of the most painful parts of the process for me — to be doing that much, to be giving that much of my heart, and being so satisfied by the performance, and then I would literally have someone every single night come and see it and say, “Oh, I had no idea it was about alcoholism.” I jumped back on social media when we got the closing notice and started trying to promote the show, sweating, just to get more people in front of this beautiful piece of work. And I felt sad and angry because there was a time when that wasn’t your job as much; your job was to do eight shows a week with all your heart. But it felt like, “Gosh, I should have been more of an influencer. I should have been having things on the sidewalk [like Hamilton did].” And I started to get desperate because when you work on something for 20 years, and you know how special it is… But then you have to check yourself and say, “It’s special to me, and that doesn’t always translate to special to the larger community.” But it’s painful. When you’re in something that means the world to you, and it’s closing, it’s heartbreaking because it feels like a death.

REDMAYNE There’s something interesting that I’ve noticed, and that’s the extraordinary difference between doing a commercial play in the West End and on Broadway. The idea of grosses being announced and your makeup artist knowing them every Tuesday and telling you? In London, I had no idea. But here, as a producer on Cabaret as well, I had to say, in the producer meetings, “I’ll sit on all the calls, but I don’t want to know.”

With our remaining time, I’m going to give a few prompts and ask you to say the first thing that comes to your mind. To begin with: Excluding family, whose attendance at one of the performances of your show has meant the most to you?

PAULSON Laurie Metcalf.

RADCLIFFE Martin Short.

REDMAYNE Joel Grey.

MCADAMS Linda Maskell, my high school drama teacher — the reason I’m here.

ODOM Kathleen Battle came to our last performance, and I fell on the floor.

What’s the most unusual thing in your dressing room?

RADCLIFFE A small plastic basketball hoop that was left by Alex Edelman, who was in the show before ours. He said, “Do you want to keep it?” I was like, “Yeah, obviously!”

PAULSON I had a fan send me what looks like a taxidermy dog that is an identical replica of my dog. Everyone walks in the room, and they’re like, “Your dog is so calm!” I was like, “This is not a real dog.”

REDMAYNE Mine is something that looks like a loaf of really soft white bread, but it’s a stress ball. It was given to me by Jamie, who does my wigs. One day I was so in tears that she was like, “Eddie, you need some anger bread.”

What’s the most annoying thing that audiences, or at least some members thereof, are doing these days?

ODOM The cell phone thing. We had one crazy show where we had three or four cell phones going off. When you hear the first one, you should think, “Oh, shoot, let me actually turn mine off.” But there was a second one. And a third one. And it was in the first 20 minutes of the show. And so I did have to stop the show and say, “There’s grace in this moment. There’s amnesty. Let’s really do it [turn off all phones].”

PAULSON Good for you. God, I love that you did that. There is this thing of, “Let’s just be here together, all of us. You do your part. I’ll do mine.” I do feel like there is an alchemy every night, depending on what the audience is bringing and what we’re bringing.

O’HARA Oh, sure. They’re the final collaborator.

PAULSON Yes, they are the final collaborator.

MCADAMS I think people don’t realize that. I think they think you can’t even see them. I thought I wouldn’t be able to see them, but I can see everything. I can see when you’re sleeping. I can see you when you open your phone to see what time it is.

PAULSON I think the most annoying new thing that’s happening is everyone seems to have their cell phone in their lap, and so there’s all the phones dropping on the floor. And at the Helen Hayes, where we started, there’s no carpet, and so it would just be like [makes clanking noise]. Now, at the Belasco, you just hear this dull thud onto a carpet.

Eddie, there’s a lot of people that are getting smashed at your show, right? Is that an issue?

REDMAYNE “Come to Cabaret and get smashed!”

O’HARA “Especially on Tuesdays!”

REDMAYNE We do have a few vocal people. There was a moment last night when Gayle [Rankin, Redmayne’s Tony-nominated co-star], who is extraordinary in the show, was singing “Mein Herr,” and she got to that bit, “And I do, what I do, and I’m through, toodle-oo” — and literally there was a woman like, “Oh, my gosh, I love the ‘toodle-oo’!” [Laughs.] So occasionally, you get a good vocal Cabaret support.

MCADAMS Just a question. I remember someone — was it Jack White? — was asking people at concerts to put their phones in lockers or something. Has that happened on Broadway?

PAULSON They did it during Take Me Out because of the nudity. They did that. So, I know it can be done, and I would love to know why we don’t just do it. Just put your phone in a cubbyhole —

MCADAMS We’ll charge it for you.

PAULSON Would that be some cost-prohibitive thing to implement?

RADCLIFFE At Merrily, it’s been OK. I think being in a musical covers a lot — I’m sure stuff’s happening during those songs, but I can’t hear it. But since we’re here, my two favorites: On Equus, there was seating onstage, and I was onstage the whole time, and if I wasn’t in the scene I would just go back to sit on one of these four blocks — it was supposed to be my room at the hospital. And there was one night when I got to my block in the first scene that I wasn’t in, and two girls in the seats just started talking to me, just full voice, while Richard Griffiths and Kate Mulgrew were doing a scene behind me, just going, “Dan! Dan! Look up here!” It carried on through the whole first act. And then I was like, “I don’t need them to leave. But can they just go into the main auditorium so that they’re not just trying to speak to me through the show?” And then my other favorite audience member? I was doing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in London, and this dude came in, sat down, and, through Josh McGuire’s first monologue as Guildenstern, which is incredibly complicated, took out a footlong sandwich, wrapped in tin foil, unwrapped the whole thing, ate it in its entirety and fell asleep for the rest of the first act. But then in the second act, he was the most attentive audience member — jumped up at the end and clapped. I wanted to be like, “Wait, did you have a good time?” “Yeah. I had a dinner, had a sleep and saw half of a great show.”

If you could snap your fingers and make it so, what would be the ideal number of performances your show would offer per week?

RADCLIFFE I don’t want to make myself unpopular, but I like the grind.

ODOM I mean, listen, the ideal would be six, right? Six or seven.

PAULSON I think the Wednesday matinee is the one I would chuck. Because when you start the Tuesday week, and then you’ve got that matinee right away? I would like to do seven with no Wednesday mat.

O’HARA I would do anything to have two days in a row off.

REDMAYNE When you get two days off, your voice can really recover.

MCADAMS Oh, fuck that Tuesday show. [Laughs.] To get the Sunday or the Sunday night-Monday-Tuesday stretch off — I mean, I might actually leave the city and go somewhere where there’s nature.

Last one. If you could play any role on the stage that you have not played before — somebody’s listening — what would it be?

PAULSON I would like to do The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?

REDMAYNE Oh! Which I would love to see you in. That was the first play I ever did in London, and you would be magnificent in that part.

RADCLIFFE I’ll know it when I see it.

REDMAYNE I’m exactly the same. I’m much better when people tell me which part I should play.

ODOM Someday — and it ain’t soon — I want to do Lear.

And the Purlie musical maybe still?

ODOM It could happen.

Rachel? Are you going to come back for more after this?

MCADAMS Not next year! [Laughs.] I would love to star in any musical, but that will never happen. So this is just all pipe dreams. But yeah, anywhere I could sing. I started out doing Disney musicals at theater camp, and I was so bad that the teacher said to me, “You know, you might be really good in the Shakespeare camp,” and sent me on my way, and it was devastating. But it was the right thing in the end.

full interview here!!

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/arts/tony-nominations-roundtable-rachel-mcadams-daniel-radcliffe-eddie-redmayne-1235918192/

[dustedmagazine]

Dagar Brothers — Berlin 1964 (Black Truffle)

Oren Ambarchi’s Black Truffle label has long been a source for challenging, rewarding music across genres from contemporary composition and free jazz to Thai mouth organ and wah-wah’d out solo bass recordings. Now it is becoming a great resource for Dhrupad music as well. Following up archival recordings of the recently departed Amelia Cuni and rudra veena virtuoso Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar is a revelatory set of lost recordings from the Dagar Brothers, two of the most important figures in establishing the documentation and preservation of this important vocal art form.

Dhrupad is the oldest form of Hindustani classical music, characterized by extensive, drawn-out improvisations. Within this lineage, the Dagar family, which includes the Dagar Brothers, their younger siblings and fellow vocal duo Zahiruddin Dagar and Faiyazuddin Dagar, the aforementioned Z.M. Dagar and his son Bahauddin Dagar,  is not just a family, but an  institution. Historically, the Dagars were court musicians, and to give a sense of how important the Dagar family is to Dhrupad, there are four styles of court (or darbārī) Dhrupad, and one of them is known simply as the Dāgar vānī. Ustad Nasir Moinuddin (1919-1966) and Ustad Nasir Aminuddin Khan (1923-2000) were born into this lineage at a critical period, coming of age as India broke free from centuries of British colonial rule. British colonialism had upended Indian court music and, starting in the 19th century, Dhrupad had begun to decline in favor of different styles of Hindustani classical music such as Khyal and Thumri. The development of recording technology further displaced the music from its regal context, as the music was now being presented to a much larger audience than the courts would have allowed. Indian classical music was extensively recorded on 78 rpm records from the very beginning, but the limited timeframe that the records allowed made documenting the lengthy Dhrupad music practically impossible. In the aftermath of decolonization, Dhrupad was in danger of disappearing entirely, and it was in this context that the Dagar Brothers took initiative to preserve their family tradition.

Crucial to this mission was the rise of long-playing records in the 1950s and 1960s, which provided much more space for the expansive improvisations of the Dagar Dhrupad. There were also a number of record labels emerging around this time, such as Ocora and Lyrichord, which were dedicated to producing ethnographic recordings without consideration for commercial appeal. In the mid-1960s the Dagar Brothers made the very first Dhrupad record for the EMI-Odeon label, and went on a tour of Europe organized by the eccentric French historian Alain Daniélou. Daniélou recorded the Dagar Brothers in Berlin during this tour, which remained unreleased until now due to the tape abruptly cutting out just before the brothers finished their performance of Raga Jaijavanti. Fifty years later that recording, along with a live recording made in Berlin around the same time, is now being released by Black Truffle.

The Dagar Brothers participated in these recordings with the intention of documenting and preserving a musical tradition in danger of disappearing (and promoting it to a new audience), but this doesn’t make them any less singular as artists. Perhaps the most striking thing about these releases is the intensity of the brothers’ performances, which ought to single handedly dispel any preconceptions of Indian Classical music as new-agey “chill-out” music. On the performance of Rāga Miyān kī Todī from the live recording, that intensity is present from the very beginning and doesn’t let up during the nearly 40 minute run time. The Dagar Brothers sing in beautiful droning overtones, but when the energy hits peak levels their vocal ornamentations sound like deep, commanding shouts, all perfectly on rhythm. The court music context may make one expect otherwise, but this is deeply powerful, trance-inducing music.

In the present day, Dhrupad is often associated with what is now known as drone music. La Monte Young, who is perhaps more associated with drone than any other composer, famously studied under Pandit Pran Nath, as did Terry Riley, and those two composers helped set the stage for future works exploring long tones. But what makes Dhrupad music so important in understanding the “Western” experimental music it paved the way for isn’t just the drone, but the way in which its practitioners showed the endless sonic possibilities of such seemingly “static” music. There are even some moments of vocal overlap between the two brothers that are somewhat reminiscent of the phasing techniques utilized by Phill Niblock.  But even beyond its importance to experimental music, these recordings are a testament to the living, breathing power of this ancient vocal art form, and the power of music in moving both the mind and the body. The voice, after all, is the original instrument.

by Levi Dayan

[twinkubus]

got tagged by @librarycards for a book rec list. ærs covered Q2'23; i'm just gonna do my faves from the first half of the year!

i've been reading a different crop of books since i made last year's list--i've taken a big dive back into sf, especially books by cj cherryh, as well as indie horror (that's... well, you'll find out when you look at the list).

again, they're ordered by when i read them. here we go!!!

Shmutz, Felicia Berliner (contemporary fiction, young hasidic woman comes of age, tries to find a husband, and gets obsessed with porn)

Father of Lies, Brian Evenson (psychological horror centering on a mormon religious leader. if you like books that make you feel gross and bad, this one's for you)

Any Other City, Hazel Jane Plante (fictional memoir of a trans musician. the book is split between her life right before she comes out, and then decades later when she's an established musician)

Camp Concentration, Thomas M. Disch (not even sure how to describe this one. fat, lapsed catholic, conscientous objector Louis Sachetti is imprisoned for refusing to become a US soldier and is sent to a prison where the (mostly black) inmates are being injected with experimental drugs. the author is gay and there's a lot of parallels to hiv/aids despite this being written in '68)

The World Cannot Give, Tara Isabella Burton (what if the secret history was catholic lesbians)

Amygdalatropolis, B.R. Yeager (another "if you like gross books" rec. i don't even know if i liked this one, but it was certainly interesting. chronicles the existence of a 4chan NEET)

Jealousy, Alain Robbe-Grillet (1957 french experientalism, i read this bc dennis cooper referenced it in an interview. believing his wife to be cheating on him, the narrator spies on her through a jalousie window, recording everything in his frame of vision that he can see. v interesting stylistically and could also rly benefit from a postcolonial reading)

The Pride of Chanur, CJ Cherryh (i read the entire trilogy pictured above, plus the first two books of her Foreigner series. it's basically a courtly fantasy/first contact mashup in space, really well developed alien cultures with lots of factions among them. tons of fun)

Frisk, Dennis Cooper (third "if you like gross extremist fiction" on here. this is my fave cooper after The Sluts and the most thematically resonant. if you haven't read the sluts i'd rec starting there. if i was a prof i would assign them together or even do this in a short course if there wasn't time for a longer book)

tagging @thebestestbat @tsubakiscarlet @danishprince @dovebeast @stackslip @eraserheadcrybaby @interstellarhitchhiker @kollapstradixionales @papika & would be happy to see book rec lists of anyone else!! fiction or non fiction or anything else idc whatever you're into ^_^

[pwlanier]

Wilhelm Schulz, poster for the 2nd Exhibition of the Berlin Secession, 1900

Courtesy Alain Truong

[ogprettyprincess]

𝟅𝟈 some of my dr's ! welcoming potential mootties, lets chat <3 | last updated: 062224 10:49pm

✰ anime

⚘ one piece , (1st) genevieve e. blue , 17 , s/o: trafalgar d. waterlaw , trope: captain/crewmate -> lovers (slow burn) , devil fruit: (kūki kūki fruit)air manipulation / (2nd) alira andilet , 18 , s/o: blackleg sanji , trope: crewmates -> lovers (slow burn) , devil fruit: (dangan dangan fruit) bullet manipulation

⟡ blue lock , satoru jena , 16 , s/o: chigiri (?) rin (?) reo (?) aiku (?) (help) , family: gojo, geto (parents) + 4 siblings, team: blue locks eleven

𖦹 mha , junko aizawa , 16 , s/o: bakugou katsuki , trope: strangers -> friends -> lovers (slow burn) , hero name: hyder , power: spidergirl basically , family: shoto aizawa (adopted)

⊰ jjk , taira kazuha , 19 , s/o: nanami kento , trope: mentor -> friends -> lovers , technique: string & invisibility manipulation , domain expansion: illusion of fear & desire , family: ren & kyoto taira (parents) kenji taira (brother)

꧞ haikyuu , ukai kananami , 15 , s/o: tsukishima kei , trope: strangers -> friends -> lovers , family: kaito & ben ukai (parents) ukai keishin (brother) , team: karasuno boys volleyball

␥ aot , geneviève ackerman , 15 , s/o: jean kirstien , trope: strangers -> enemies -> friends -> lovers , family: charlotte & oliver ackerman (parents) levi ackerman (uncle) , humanity's second strongest soldier :P , role: the savoir

⊞ atla , aoki kazuha , 16 , s/o: un-named oc , trope: strangers -> lovers , family: aki & rolan aoki (parents) kian & kano (brothers) , element: all , main: air, avatar of 3000 (?)

✰ shows

❀ obx , geneviève lambert , 17 , s/o: rafe cameron (not psycho) , trope: childhood friends -> "enemies" -> friends -> lovers , family: lyla lambert (mom) logan westwood (step dad) , role: man in the middle

⪩ twd , charlotte grimes , 21 , s/o: daryl dixon (32) , trope: strangers -> lovers , family: oliver & evie grimes (dad & mom) rick grimes (uncle turned dad) carl grimes (cousin turned brother) judith (cousin turned sister) , main weapon: dual blades

✵ bcd (/behind closed doors ; original reality) , katara brown , 18 , s/o: nakamoto arito (oc) , trope: strangers -> friends -> lovers (slow burn) , occupation: assassin in training , role: the finalist

✰ games

✶ genshin impact , (1st) princess enver le'mistral , 21 , s/o: kaedehara kazuha (?) , trope: strangers -> playful enemies -> lovers , vison: anemo , home: sky city (og) + fontaine , family: nalani & alain le'mistral (parents) navida le'mistral (aunt) , position: champion dualist / (2nd) tashita jinx - [under construction]

✰ other

✦ youtuber , (1st) geneviève eden silvestrè , 18 , s/o: matt sturniolo , trope: strangers -> friends -> lovers , family: evangeline & antonio silvestrè (parents) leo + angelina + dom (brothers & sister) / (2nd) imani eden monroe , 21 , s/o: berlin edmond , family: nilani monroe (mom) angelica & clementine (sisters)

◎ footballer , violet dupont , 21 , s/o: elisa de almeida , trope: teammates -> lovers , family: jamais dupont (dad) claude & blaise dupont (brothers) , team: psg feminines + women's french national

☆ actress , (1st) violette eden irl last name , 20 , s/o: drew starkey , trope: costars -> lovers , family: leila (mom) anastasia & june (sisters) , main roles: charlotte in obx + edith in despicable me + peyton in the game plan / (2nd) valerie eden auclair - [under construction]

𐙚 kpop , (1st) jenevieve eden levesque , 19 , s/o: christopher bang , trope: strangers -> friends -> lovers , year: 2020 , family: nilani levesque (mom) leo + angelina + dontai + alias + charlotte monroe (siblings :3) , groups: nct, nct 127, nct x / (2nd) - [under construction]

ᡣ𐭩 teen fame , genevieve eden morgan , 14 , s/o: elisa de almeida (15) , trope: friends -> lovers , family: jeffery dean morgan (dad) , main rolls - [under construction]

一 that's all ! if you have any same / similar dr's feel free to talk about them or dm me so we can !!

❥ i didn't mention my waiting room cause that'll be another post, but it's basically a city shifting hub / giant waiting room for shifters from all different realities ! lemmie know if you wanna hear about it :)

[lostcauses-noregrets]

With AoT fancasts being brought up again, I thought I’d share that the closest I’ve seen someone come to Levi is Freddy Carter in his role as Kaz Brekker in the ‘Shadow and Bone’ series. To me, he’s got the intensity and a curious mixture of soft and sharp features. I also think the under-eye circles he has in some scenes are pretty fitting for Levi lol. However, I have yet to see anyone that fits Erwin or Hange closely for me (except maybe Adria Arjona as Anathema from ‘Good Omens’ for Hange, but only if she was more disheveled lol)

I haven't seen Shadow and Bone and I'm not familiar with Freddy Carter but I can kinda see what you're getting at. I've still never seen anyone who really captures Levi's unique character, but I have seen some pretty people who have a bit of his vibe. I'd also add the young Alain Delon to this list.

Adria Arjona is too conventionally pretty to Hanji for me. I definitely see Hanji as being much more androgynous. Someone once suggested Jamie Clayton for Hanji, but again too pretty. Although I've never seen the perfect Erwin or perfect Levi, I have actually met the perfect Hanji at an open science conference in Berlin. They were a spitting image of Hanji right down to the science, the glasses and the messy ponytail. The likeness as so uncanny they were distracting me from the conference 😅

[celluloidrainbow]

MA VIE EN ROSE (1997) dir. Alain Berliner Seven-year-old Ludovic announces to her startled parents, Pierre and Hanna, that she is in fact a girl. Her parents first view her newfound taste for girls' clothes and toys as a harmless phase, but as other neighborhood parents grow concerned - particularly Albert, Pierre's prudish boss and the father of Jerome, the boy Ludovic has decided she wants to marry - they take steps to "cure" her. (link in title)

[coochiequeens]

He can still compete, he just can’t compete against women.

A trans-identified male runner took first place at a women’s race in France last weekend despite a recent rule change at an international level banning males from competing in female athletic competitions. 

Halba Diouf, 21, broke his personal record at the Nice Côte D’Azur Athlétisme (NCAA) Interclubs Open competition in Nice on May 7. His winning time made him the ninth fastest recorded “female” in French athletic history. 

He achieved a leading performance which nearly met the minimum time required for the Olympics, which Diouf has expressed interest in participating in as a “woman.”

However, due to recent rule changes proposed by World Athletics, the international governing body for the sport of athletics, male competitors who have gone through male puberty are not permitted to compete in the female categories of international competitions. 

World Athletics oversees regulations for a variety of race-related events, and previous guidelines allowed men to compete in the female division if they had suppressed their testosterone levels below a certain threshold – a standard which critics pointed out was set to as much as five times higher than the average amount of the hormone found in females.

Speaking about the decision by World Athletics Diouf in a recent interview, Diouf said: “I cannot understand this decision as transgender women have always been allowed to compete if their testosterone levels were below a certain threshold … The only safeguard transgender women have is their right to live as they wish and we are being refused that, we are being hounded … I feel marginalized because they are excluding me from competitions.”

Diouf also took to social media to denounce his critics. On March 26, he posted a statement to Instagram asserting that he believed he had a right to compete against female athletes. 

“I am extremely angry, because I gave up too many things to come to this,” Diouf wrote. “If we have to fight to show our existence, we will! The hordes of angry people who moan that trans people are threatening the civilization they’ve built are right.”

Two weeks ago, Diouf appeared on France TV where he repeated his views on the World Athletics decision.

“The alleged intention to ‘protect women’ by exclusionary policies like this is insidious, even pernicious, and it is intended to deceive people, especially women!” he said. “In reality, these [regulations] are not protecting anyone and harm all women by continuing to monitor women’s bodies. They are indirectly being infantile without even knowing it, and that’s a pity.”

Diouf was born in born in Senegal, but his family immigrated to France when he was four years old. He has undergone cross-sex hormone therapy and legally changed his sex marker on his identification to read “female” two years ago. 

Diouf won a women’s 200m race in January 2023, just prior to the rule change by World Athletes. However, just days after winning the competition, his details were deleted from the list of participants. The French Athletics Federation (FFA) stepped in requiring more information about Diouf’s medical status and hormone levels to ensure they were in-line with World Athletics guidelines at the time for trans-identified males.

Diouf was found to have met the criteria. His endocrinologist, Alain Berliner, said the 21-year-old “is a woman, from a physiological, hormonal and legal point of view.” Only two months later in March 2023, World Athletics updated their guidelines. 

In a statement about their decision, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe argued, “We cannot in all conscience leave our transgender regulations as they were at 5nmol/L for at least one year when we were unsure about the impact of doing so across all our disciplines.”

“The decision that the council made is a primarily principled based decision about the over-arching need to protect the female category. This is what our sport is here to do. And I think the council has done that today.

“We continue to take the view that we must maintain fairness for female athletes above all other considerations. We will be guided in this by the science around physical performance and male advantage which will inevitably develop over the coming years.”

After the decision, Diouf said in an interview that he was “shocked” but would continue to present himself to female competitions despite the rule change. 

The French Athletics Federation (Fédération Française d’Athlétisme – FFA) granted permission for Diouf to compete “up to the departmental level”, but his performances cannot be taken into account for an international selection, meaning he has been permitted to participate in national championships or for French women’s records. This allowed him to compete in the open competition on Sunday, where he won the women’s 200m race. 

World Athletics are not the only sporting governing body to update their policy on males competing in women’s sports. FINA, the international swimming world’s governing body, voted to ban trans-identified males from elite female competitions if they had undergone male puberty.

By Shay Woulahan

Shay is a writer and social media content creator for Reduxx. She is a proud lesbian activist and feminist who lives in Northern Ireland with her partner and their four-legged, fluffy friends.

[dianessunflower]

The Instrumentalist

Zadie Smith reviews Tár, a film written and directed by Todd Field, in the January 19, 2023 issue of The New York Review. Illustration by Alain Pilon.

At the heart of Todd Field’s new film is a conductor who cannot see beyond her generation’s field of vision.

“To paraphrase Schopenhauer—who gets several shout-outs in Tár—every generation mistakes the limits of its own field of vision for the limits of the world. But what happens when generational visions collide? How should we respond?”

“As we learn in her classroom, [Lydia] Tár’s method is direct combat. For she is Gen X—like me—and one of the striking things about my crowd is that although we like to speak rapturously of emotion in the aesthetic sense, we prefer to scorn emotions personally (by way of claiming to not really have any) and also to trample over other peoples’. It doesn’t occur to Tár that sweet young Max may have serious trouble with anxiety—although we in the audience certainly notice his knees bouncing frantically. The power differential between these two means that a rant Tár might launch into around a dinner table in Berlin—to much receptive laughter—is experienced as ritual humiliation by a young man exposed in front of his peers. But Tár is discombobulated also. It’s a long climb down from Cultural Luminary to Contra, and no doubt a great shock to find yourself so sharply reassessed and redefined by the generation below you. Do twenty-five years of glass-ceiling breaking and artistic excellence count for nothing? It’s enough to pitch a girl into a midlife crisis.”

[quentinbidaud22-23]

POST 1

L'aventure de madame Muir, Joseph L. Mankiewicz 1947 Une histoire d'amour entre une femme et un fantôme, une vieille maison sur une falaise. Incontournable.

Mon oncle, Jacques Tati 1958 La rencontre poétique de deux mondes, l'ancien et le moderne. Des personnages attachants. Cela pourrait être un poème de Prévert, mais c'est un film de Tati.

L'année dernière à Marienbad, Alain Resnais 1961 Un immense jardin à la française, un colossal escalier, Delphine Seyrig et Giorgio Albertazzi qui ne cessent de rejouer la scène d'un rendez-vous manqué. Un chef-d'oeuvre qui gardera son mystère à jamais.

Judex, Georges Franju, 1963 Digne des romans feuilletons du XIXe siècle, un justicier mystérieux qui s'attaque au banquier malhonnête. Des combinaisons noires, des intrigues, des masques en forme d'oiseau.

Les lèvres rouges, Harry Kümel, 1971 La suite vampirique de Marienbad, Delphine Seyrig en comtesse immortelle buvant le sang des pensionnaires d'un hôtel d'Ostende.

La montagne sacrée, Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1973 Délire hypnotique et fou, conte alchimique dans lequel les maîtres des neufs planètes devront gravir la montagne sacrée pour trouver la réponse savoureuse au grand mystère de l'existence.

Céline et Julie vont en bateau, Jacques Rivette, 1974 Deux sorcières solaires errant dans le Paris des années 70. Une maison mystérieuse, des numéros de magie. Un film à regarder à l'endroit ou à l'envers, éveillé ou endormi.

Complot de famille, Alfred Hitchcock, 1976 Le dernier film d'Hitchcock, une fausse voyante et un chauffeur de taxi à la recherche d'un diamant volé. Un film du dimanche soir.

Stalker, Andreï Tarkovski, 1979 Un voyage à travers des paysages de science fiction délabrés porté par une musique sublime. Une sorte de rêve.

The Fog, John Carpenter, 1980 Une malédiction s'abat sur une ville de Nouvelle-Angleterre. Un brouillard vert fluorescent duquel émerge des fantômes. Une animatrice de radio tente de sauver les habitants depuis un phare isolé. Un film glacial et génial.

Fitzcarraldo, Werner Herzog, 1982 Un homme passionné d'opéra entreprend de faire passer un bateau par dessus une montagne en pleine jungle amazonienne. On ne saurait le décrire autrement.

Et vogue le navire, Federico Fellini, 1983 Un film comme un roman, au début du XXe siècle, des personnages hauts en couleurs embarquent à bord d'un paquebot afin de rendre hommage à une célèbre cantatrice.

Paris, Texas, Wim Wenders 1984 Un homme qu'on croyait mort sort du désert et retrouve peu à peu les vestiges de sa vie passée. Une sorte de mirage porté par une musique sublime.

Phenomena, Dario Argento, 1985 Un film d'horreur comme on n'en fait plus. Un adolescente qui parle aux insectes sur les traces d'un tueur en série. Jennifer Connelly invoquant une nuée de mouches, scène culte.

Les ailes du désir, Wim Wenders 1987 Un très grand film de Wim Wenders. Un ange tombe amoureux d'une acrobate de cirque et décide de devenir mortel. Une promenade dans le Berlin des années 80. Peter Falk se frottant les mains dans la brume matinale. Incontournable.

Prince des ténèbres, John Carpenter, 1987 Le film d'horreur le plus terrifiant. Un groupe de scientifiques découvre que l'Eglise a caché au monde le fait que Dieu n'existe pas. A sa place, une entité ténébreuse qui va bientôt se libérer. Vous ne vous regarderez plus jamais dans un miroir sans penser à ce qui vous attend de l'autre côté...

Drugstore Cowboy, Gus Van Sant, 1989 Une petite bande de camés braque des pharmacies pour se défoncer. Leur chef décide de se ranger mais le passé ne s'oublie pas facilement. Un conte étonnamment léger. Une apparition de William Burroughs dans toute sa majesté.

Meurtre mystérieux à Manhattan, Woody Allen, 1993 Un couple farfelu mène l'enquête sur la mort de leur voisine de palier. Le New York des années 90, des rebondissements, et Anjelica Huston au faîte de sa gloire en auteur de romans policiers.

La cité des enfants perdus, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1995 Dans une cité portuaire verdâtre, des enfants disparaissent. Un savant fou tente vainement de voler leurs rêves. Un film génial, complètement glauque et immersif. Des costumes incroyables de Jean-Paul Gaultier. Un monde en soi.

Dead Man, Jim Jarmush, 1995 William Blake tue un homme par erreur et prend la fuite, accompagné de l'indien Nobody, qui le prend pour l'esprit du célèbre poète anglais. Un récit initiatique tout bonnement génial, bercé par les improvisations de Neil Young à la guitare. Le meilleur rôle de Johnny Depp. Une apparition éclair de Robert Mitchum dans son dernier rôle.

The pillow book, Peter Greenaway, 1996 La fille d'un célèbre calligraphe, devenue mannequin, recherche un homme capable de lui écrire un compliment sur toute la peau. Elle finit par devenir elle-même calligraphe et décide d'écrire un livre sur le corps de son amant. Un film sublime.

La légende du pianiste sur l'océan, Giuseppe Tornatore, 1998 Un bébé est retrouvé dans la cale d'un paquebot. Devenu adulte, ainsi qu'un pianiste légendaire, il se mesure aux plus grands musiciens de son temps mais n'a jamais posé le pied à terre. Un conte magistral et bouleversant.

Mulholland Drive, David Lynch, 2001 Un rêve, un cauchemar. Une femme amnésique, aidée par une actrice en herbe, part à la recherche de son identité. Un film porteur d'un mystère insondable. A voir et à revoir à l'infini.

La famille Tenenbaum, Wes Anderson, 2001 Une famille de génies, disloquée par des querelles intestines, tente de se retrouver. Un vrai poème visuel, drôle et touchant. On aimerait vivre dedans.

Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino, 2003 Un chef d'oeuvre absolu. Le personnage d'Uma Thurman en guerrière vengeresse que rien ne pourra arrêter, figure allégorique mue par une force supérieure. Les cinq points et la paume qui font exploser le coeur.

The Fall, Tarsem Singh, 2006 Un homme alité dans un hôpital raconte une histoire à une petite fille. En échange, elle dérobe pour lui des ampoules de morphine. Et le conte se mêle à la réalité. Visuellement grandiose et éblouissant. Une scène d'ouverture mémorable.

The Fountain, Darren Aronovsky, 2006 Trois histoires entremêlées pour n'en former qu'une seule, celle de la recherche de la vie éternelle. Des scènes se déroulant dans le plan astral, toutes d'or en fusion et d'extase mystique. A couper le souffle.

Melancholia, Lars Von Trier, 2011 Une planète s'approche dangereusement de la terre et s'apprête à l'engloutir. Deux soeurs, deux entités contraires, se dirigent en silence vers la fin du monde. Une expérience totale portée par des symphonies sublimes et des tableaux de Bruegel.

Only Lovers Left Alive, Jim Jarmush, 2013 Un couple de vampires sublimes portent sur le monde un regard désabusé. Sur fond de rock indé lancinant, à travers Détroit ou Tanger, la décadence d'une communauté en train de disparaitre.

Les Garçons Sauvages, Bertrand Mandico, 2017 Un groupe de jeunes garçons commet un crime impardonnable. Ils sont condamnés à accompagner en mer un capitaine étrange et colérique. Un voyage vernien, totalement organique et sensuel. A la croisée de William Burroughs et de l'île au trésor, de Cronenberg et du club des cinq.

[clemsfilmdiary]

Passion of Mind (2000, Alain Berliner)

9/26/22

[synthiafranco]

MUBI

A day in a life

Dir by Larry Clarck, Jonathan Velasquez

France, 2020

MAURICE'S BAR

Directed by Tom Prezman, Tzor Edery

Israel, France, 2023

THE STAGGERING GIRL

Directed by Luca Guadagnino

Italy, 2019

HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR

Directed by Alain Resnais

France, Japan, 1959

LES FRUITS DE LA PASSION

Directed by Shûji Terayama

France, Japan, 1981

ANTOINE ET COLETTE

Directed by François Truffaut

France, 1962

DOGVILLE

Directed by Lars von Trier

Denmark, Sweden, 2003

MELANCHOLIA

Directed by Lars von Trier

Denmark, Sweden, 2011

MYSTERIOUS SKIN

Directed by Gregg Araki

United States, 2004

HOUNDS OF LOVE

Directed by Ben Young

Australia, 2016

TROIS COULEURS : ROUGE

Directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski

France, Switzerland, 1994

ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE

Directed by Jim Jarmusch

United States, Germany, 2013

DER HIMMEL ÜBER BERLIN

Directed by Wim Wenders

West Germany, France, 1987

BERGMAN ISLAND

Directed by Mia Hansen-Løve

France, Belgium, 2021

LA DOUBLE VIE DE VÉRONIQUE

Directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski

France, Poland, 1991

CRIMES OF THE FUTURE

Directed by David Cronenberg

Canada, Greece, 2022

ÉTÉ 85

Directed by François Ozon

France, 2020

TROIS COULEURS : BLANC

Directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski

France, Poland, 1994

THE DREAMERS

Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci

France, 2003

ALICE IN DEN STÄDTEN

Directed by Wim Wenders

West Germany, 1974

TROMPERIE

Directed by Arnaud Desplechin

France, 2021

LE BONHEUR

Directed by Agnès Varda

France, 1965

A SHORT FILM ABOUT LOVE

KRÓTKI FILM O MIŁOŚCI

Directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski

Poland, 1988

SHADOWS IN PARADISE

Directed by Aki Kaurismäki

Finland, 1986

DOMICILE CONJUGAL

Directed by François Truffaut

France, Italy, 1970