#contemporary classics

[stimtickle]

* NOES 3: Dream Warriors - 3/1/87

* Angel Heart - 3/6/87

* Lethal Weapon - 3/6/87

* Evil Dead 2 - 3/13/87

* Street Smart - 3/20/87

* Raising Arizona - 4/10/87

* The Untouchables - 6/3/87

* The Believers - 6/10/87

* Predator - 6/12/87

* The Witches of Eastwick - 6/12/87

* Spaceballs - 6/24/87

* Innerspace - 7/1/87

* Adventures in Babysitting - 7/3/87

* Full Metal Jacket - 7/10/87

* RoboCop - 7/17/87

* La Bamba - 7/24/87

* The Lost Boys - 7/31/87

* The Monster Squad - 8/14/87

* The Whales of August - 8/19/87

* Fatal Attraction - 9/18/87

* Hellraiser - 9/18/87

* Near Dark - 10/2/87

* The Princess Bride - 10/9/87

* House of Games - 10/14/87

* Barfly - 10/16/87

* Prince of Darkness - 10/23/87

* The Hidden - 10/30/87

* Less Than Zero - 11/6/87

* The Running Man - 11/13/87

* Planes, Trains & Automobiles - 11/25/87

* Wall Street - 12/11/87

* Throw Mamma From The Train - 12/11/87

* Eddie Murphy: Raw - 12/18/87

* Empire of the Sun - 12/25/87

When I was growing up 1939 was popularly remembered (back then) as a great year for movies and it was…but it was no 1987. For the last ten or so years, 1999 has been celebrated as a great year for movies (American Beauty, The Matrix, Boys Don’t Cry, Fight Club, The Insider, Three Kings. Being John Malkovich, The Blair Witch Project, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Office Space, Deep Blue Sea, etc.) and it was, but it was no 1987.

Admittedly 1999 was a year of heightened consciousness for movies. Frustration with the status quo was palpable and the movies definitely reflected that. Pre-millennial tensions blended with existential angst to bring about a refreshing alchemy of spiritual reclamation. But still…it was no 1987.

I was thirteen going into my fourteenth year and 1987 was very formative for me. The sheer amount of modern classics released that year is mind-blowing to me still to this day. We were simply spoiled for choice. The best NOES sequel was amazing, to be quickly followed by Angel Heart and Evil Dead 2!! Read the list, it was an astonishing time for the movies.

And July of 1987 is still hands-down the best July for movies ever. Full Metal Jacket this week, fucking jaw-dropping Robocop the next. La Bamba the next, followed by The Lost Boys. HOLY SHIT!

*With Hellraiser, Near Dark, The Princess Bride, Barfly, House of Games, etc. October was pretty freaking awesome too.

1987 is the year I relish most when I think about contemporary movie classics. Compared to 1999, some of these titles might appear somewhat shallow, but I’d say look again. There is a lot of intense sociological depth to a lot of these films…but it’s not the overriding point they’re trying to make. Entertainment was thoughtful, but not in your face.

A new level of storytelling intensity was reached that year. A stunning year for genre films.

Never again will it ever be that incredible.

*While I did see them, I didn’t really care about Moonstruck, Beverly Hills Cop 2, Mannequin, or Dirty Dancing…but they certainly had their fans too.

Much Love, T. Stickle

*FYI: Bad Taste, Street Trash, and of course Robocop all conspired to open me up to the beautifully gross & demented joys of Splattertoons. Yet another reason why 1987 is so dear to me. 😝

[elephantlovemedleys]

hi friends so i'm nearly done reading virginia woolf's mrs dalloway (and enjoying it, a great piece of writing) however...help me choose which to read next

[constanzarte]

The Death of Icarus, by Alexandre Cabanel

[weaversweek]

48: "Fairy tale of New York" - The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl

written by Jem Finer and Shane McGowan

Part of the UncoolTwo50 project, marking the best singles from 1977-99.

Kirsty's leaning at the piano, Shane bangs on the keyboard and sings the first verse. We see an infinity of Shanes on the big screen, and a single electric candle. Kirsty looks on expectantly, and we can just make out the rest of the band on their marks around the back.

And then the lights go up, the tempo picks up, Kirsty steps to the mike, and the song's away. Kirsty's in a long blue coat, and is Shane wearing a suit? Can't be, he'd burn up!

According to legend, the song came about after a bet between Shane and Elvis Costello, that Shane couldn't write an immortal Christmas hit. It's named after JP Donleavy's novel.

"Truly stupendous… it'll be Christmas number one," editorialises Mike Read. We'll find out next week if it is.

In the years after, "Fairy tale of New York" fell into something of an abyss - barely played for the next few Christmases. We remember hearing Fluff Freeman play it in late 1989, and remember a) this is a bloody good record and b) shame it's been completely forgotten.

Re-issued for Christmas 1991, to promote The Pogues' greatest hits, which allowed radio programmers to remember how good it was, and slip it back into the playlists. It would take Kirsty's death in 2000 for "Fairy tale of New York" to become a staple of the season.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

the fact that shakespeare was a playwright is sometimes so funny to me. just the concept of the "greatest writer of the English language" being a random 450-year-old entertainer, a 16th cent pop cultural sensation (thanks in large part to puns & dirty jokes & verbiage & a long-running appeal to commoners). and his work was made to be watched not read, but in the classroom teachers just hand us his scripts and say "that's literature"

just...imagine it's 2450 A.D. and English Lit students are regularly going into 100k debt writing postdoc theses on The Simpsons screenplays. the original animation hasn't even been preserved, it's literally just scripts and the occasional SDH subtitles.txt. they've been republished more times than the Bible

[bebs-art-gallery]

Golden Touch (2024) by Clayshaper † Mary Magdalene in the Cave (1868) by Hugues Merle

[lohennessey]

2023 Pre-Highjacking

[arc-hus]

Yale Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Connecticut, USA - SOM

[namedvesta]

𝑏𝑦 𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑊𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟.

[piizunn]

Colonizer Classics, 2024

Glass seed beads, beeswax, nylon

[disease]

THE ART of GRACE SLICK

Grace Slick, formerly of Jefferson Airplane (and later Starship) who were one of Woodstock's monumental participants, has been involved in the visual arts scene lately in her life...

The Airplane, most notable for their psychedelic masterpiece 'White Rabbit', entwines the tale of Alice In Wonderland with lyrics advocating for the expansion of one's consciousness through hallucinogens as the ultimate solution; which, in opposition, dismisses the validity to the otherwise socially acceptable norm of the American pharmaceutical diet's true effectivity.

it's refreshing to see that, after many decades have passed, even though she chose to pursue a different artistic avenue than music—the thematics and probable integrity remain the very same.

included are just a few selections from her primary focal point, that eternal fascination with Wonderland; however, she has also paid homage to some of her fellow peers of the Revolution, by painting portraits of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, amongst many others.

[rosieandthemoon]

By Michelle Avery Konczyk

[constanzarte]

Gabriel Ferrier, Moonlit Dreams

[otrtbs]

“i wish people still painted like this” while making a dig at modern art… YOU FOOL. YOU BUFOON. YOU IMBECILE. LIKE ???? THEY DOOOOOO THEY. DO.

[vintagehomecollection]

Interior Visions: Great American Designers and the Showcase House, 1988

[bebs-art-gallery]

Albert Square, Manchester (1910) by Adolphe Valette | Contemporary Art (2015) by Emily Allchurch