#harry baer

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[triforcevillains]

Feuchtgebiete (2013)

In dem deutschen Film, der auf Charlotte Roches Pipi-Kacka-Prosa-Roman basiert, schwankt die Protagonistin Helen zwischen den Komplexen, die sie der Scheidung ihrer Eltern verdankt, ihren geplatzten Hämorrhoiden und dem niedlichen Krankenpfleger, dem sie im Laufe ihres Krankenhausaufenthalts kennenlernt.

(11/10)

[letterboxd-loggd]

Pioneers in Ingolstadt (Pioniere in Ingolstadt) (1971) Rainer Werner Fassbinder

January 25th 2024

[lorenzlund]

When I saw your face I was leaving!

Be lief!! Be leav er.

"So if you Bi- leave (in love) tonight".

Belief und Glaube.

*G(-wort) Sau Be-

re- lick I on 's

Region *re- 'g-Wort' I on

'Respect!!' (Ruecksicht, haben, beweisen und privat geteilte Ansichten und Meinungen)

re- : rueck-

Kleine wie grosse Po kneter. Nahezu jeder hat oder kennt zumindest ein paar auch eigene. Geknet. kneten. 'den Rosenkranz beten'

'unbefleckt' (Geburt, Empfaengnis)

der vom Butt isst. Butt A. Statue.

Ich bekenne, ich esse vom Hintern. Je (frz.), ich, essen, 's, You Ass!!

Po Hammel (at), A. mad

Hai mad (Region und Gefuehle). (Mackies Messer. 'Und der Haifisch der hat Zaehne')

Hormone, -staat

'Hier stehe ich und kann nicht an ders'

'kein Bildnis machen von Goettern neben dir' (vergleichen liesse sich das in etwa mit selbst heutiger Erotik und Fotografie aus auch dem Internet, wie sie dort zu finden ist)

Glaubensverkuender : Er Suender, sin er

-begruender

(be)hind u isst.

at he isst'. Atheisten.

'Johannes der ( )auefer

Nach dem Meckern ausgerichtet! (bestaendiges Herummeckern an der eigenen Frau)

Kraftfartzeug, -verkehr, das K(f)z, -kennzeichen oder Aufkleber, -hundesamt, Verkehrssicherheit

'Sein Stecken und Stab troesten mich'

Stammvater Mo ess

Po fress

Nuernberger Prozesse

Bi- schneidung

au Po! (Kfz)

[mariacallous]

Democrats are in a state of shock. Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s decisive defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris in the Electoral College and the popular vote has been disillusioning. The fact that Trump has grown his coalition feels like a rebuke of what Democrats have stood for since the 1960s.

In the months ahead, Democrats will engage in a grueling process of soul-searching and finger-pointing. The party needs to reimagine its strategy if it hopes to regain control of the White House and cut into the significant gains that the GOP made throughout the electoral map.

There will be strong pressure for Democrats to veer more sharply toward the center on several key issues, including taxes, regulation, energy, and immigration. One of the historical examples that will be showcased as a model for moving to the middle will be the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), a small group of insiders who came together in 1985 to rebuild their party following the wreckage of President Ronald Reagan’s landslide victory against former Vice President Walter Mondale. While the DLC provides reason to believe that centrism can help pave a roadway back to the White House, which it did in 1992 and 1996, it also offers a warning of the potential long-term costs that centrism can pose to the health of a party.

Following Reagan’s 1984 reelection victory (winning 49 out of 50 states and around 59 percent of the popular vote), many Democratic officials and voters were scrambling. Reagan’s agenda had marked a sharp shift to the right in U.S. politics. During his inaugural address in 1981, Reagan had reset the terms of the debate by proclaiming that the government was the problem, not the solution. During his first four years in office, Reagan pushed national debate toward conservative positions that were once considered extreme, and he united a rightward alliance of evangelical Christians, neoconservatives, hawkish anti-communists, and business elites around the twin themes of anti-communism and lower taxation. Democrats, some of whom half-joked they would move overseas, didn’t know what to do next as they looked at the election returns. In an article for the Wall Street Journal, reporter James Perry wrote, “The agonizing and the hand-wringing already have begun. It will be a long and painful process.”

In 1985, Al From launched the DLC. He had previously served as executive director for the House Democratic Caucus from 1981 to 1985, which was chaired by Louisiana Rep. Gillis Long at the time. As Kenneth Baer recounts, their collaboration on the Committee on Party Effectiveness gave birth to the idea for the DLC. In 1982, they published “Rebuilding the Road to Opportunity,” a report that outlined the need to turn away from economic redistribution and toward economic growth and opportunity. From’s ambition was to revive the fading influence of moderate Democrats such as Long, who, in the 1960s and 1970s, had helped bridge the divide between Northern liberals and Southern conservatives. From was also inspired by the work of Washington Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson, who had broken with his party in the 1970s over foreign policy, believing that his colleagues had become too dovish after Vietnam.

From and Will Marshall, who was a speechwriter and analyst for Long, joined a group of distinguished Democrats in launching the project, including Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt, Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn, and some governors, including Virginia Gov. Chuck Robb, and Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt. “We Democrats can’t continue to blame bad candidates, bad tactics, and bad luck,” Nunn warned. Several younger politicians were attracted by some of the ideas that From and Marshall were working on through this small organization. In 1988, the DLC was shattered when Vice President George H.W. Bush walloped Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis in the presidential election, after a blistering campaign that smeared the moderate technocratic governor as a far-left liberal by tapping into nationalistic patriotism and race-baiting. In 1989, Marshall established a think tank called the Progressive Policy Institute to advance DLC ideas and attempt to reframe the debate before the next presidential election.

At the heart of the DLC agenda was the imperative to shift toward the center. On domestic policy, this meant promoting market-based solutions to economic intervention, as well as reforms to the social safety net, to promote individual responsibility and work incentives. On foreign policy, the DLC called for more military intervention and support in targeted conflicts. The DLC came under intense political fire from liberal Democrats who warned that these arguments would erode the party’s best traditions, echoing Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy’s warning, which he made at the 1980 Democratic National Convention, against forgetting the fight for “the cause of the common man and the common woman.” Historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. wrote in the New York Times that “me-too Reaganism” would be disastrous. The DLC vision, Schlesinger argued, overstated the popularity of Reaganism and promoted wrong-headed policies. Moreover, he wrote, “If American voters are in a conservative mood, they will surely choose the real thing and not a Democratic imitation.”

But From and his colleagues felt that if Democrats did not shift dramatically, then the White House would remain in Republican hands for decades to come. From said the talking points from figures such as Schlesinger were “advanced by the standpatters in our party, who yearn for a return to the pre-Reagan status quo at home and advocate a neo-isolationism abroad.”

Of all the politicians who the DLC worked with, none was as important as Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton. When From and Clinton met in Little Rock in 1989, the DLC put an offer on the table that the governor could not refuse: “If you agree to become chairman of the DLC, we’ll pay for your travel around the country, we’ll work together on an agenda, and I think you’ll be president one day, and we’ll both be important.” Clinton served as the DLC chairman from 1990 to 1991. From followed through on his promise to help elevate Clinton. The DLC established chapters in numerous states and launched a national convention, branding itself as the “mainstream voice of the Democratic Party.” During his campaign in 1992 against Bush, Clinton reminded voters and the media of his reputation as a New Democrat with great pride. The DLC helped Clinton raise money, round up endorsements, and knock off primary challengers. The governor chose Tennessee Sen. Al Gore as his running mate, resulting in two young southerners at the top of the ticket who shared an affinity for the centrist vision. The party platform included text about a “new covenant to repair the damaged bond between the American people and their government, that will expand opportunity, insist upon greater individual responsibility in return, restore community, and insure national security.”

To be sure, Clinton didn’t totally jettison older Democratic ideals. His relationship to the DLC, as historians Judith Stein and Nelson Lichtenstein argued in their 2023 book on Clinton’s presidency, was “far more ambiguous.” Clinton simultaneously returned to core Democratic arguments about the role of government in the economy and stressed his commitment to working families. Nonetheless, the influence of the DLC loomed large as Clinton attempted to position himself as a Democrat who mainstream voters could accept in a more conservative era. The plan worked. Clinton won the presidency, and he would be reelected four years later over Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, a Republican.

The DLC model will tempt Democrats in 2024 as they confront the governing coalition that MAGA Republicans have put into place. After all, the DLC helped Democrats win the White House in 1992 and 1996. Some argue that Barack Obama followed the DLC template, as well, particularly on economic and financial policy, which was important to his victories in 2008 and 2012.

As tempting as this historical model might be, Democrats will do well to understand the costs that were also a result of the strategy—costs that Democrats are still paying today in painful ways. One of the signature decisions in the first year of Clinton’s presidency was to sign the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The agreement, which opened the flow of commerce between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, had been worked on by Bush before the end of his term. Clinton, who saw NAFTA as a way to brandish his New Democrat bonafides, stressed that free trade was an inevitable reality and that it would lift all boats.

Not everyone agreed. During the 1996 presidential campaign, third-party candidate Ross Perot, who received over 19 million votes, said the “giant sucking sound” U.S. workers heard was well-paying jobs being moved abroad. Many liberals and progressives joined Perot in his critique as Congress considered what to do. In 1993, Vermont Rep. Bernie Sanders, an independent, said, “NAFTA may be a good deal for the people who own our corporations, but it is a bad deal for American workers, for our family farmers, and it is bad for the environment.” Gephardt, who was also House majority leader at the time, led a campaign against the bill, as did Michigan Rep. David Bonior, House majority whip.

Clinton pushed back, sending his vice president, Gore, to appear on CNN’s “Larry King Live” in a televised debate against Perot in November. Gore won. The House and Senate passed the NAFTA within a few weeks. The new Democratic vision was triumphant. In his signing statement, Clinton proclaimed, “We cannot stop global change. We cannot repeal the international economic competition that is everywhere. We can only harness the energy to our benefit. Now we must recognize that the only way for a wealthy nation to grow richer is to export, to simply find new customers for the products and services it makes.”

By 2000, the U.S. economy was roaring, and the emergence of a vibrant high-tech sector seemed to promise a new era of economic growth. The fact that Clinton ended his time in power with low unemployment, minimal inflation, and federal surpluses seemed reason to cheer.

Looking back, however, it has become clear that many working families suffered greatly as a result of NAFTA. The middle way didn’t provide economic hope or security. It was part of a switch to what some historians, such as Gary Gerstle, have called the “neo-liberal order” that privileged unfettered markets regardless of the impact on average Americans. “Deindustrialization has diminished the wealth, power and health of working-class Americans arguably more than any other single culprit,” Dan Kaufmann recently wrote in the New York Times. “The passage of NAFTA remains one of the most consequential events in recent American political and economic history.” While deindustrialization was well underway by the 1970s, the historic trade agreement greatly accelerated these destructive processes.

Now, a reimagined Republican Party rests on a foundation of working-class voters. And this year they were joined by working Latino and Black voters, who are likewise feeling the squeeze of long-term economic security. Along with other Republicans, they have forged a governing coalition that keeps growing and has thrown the Democrats into disarray. Surveying the results from last week, journalist Ezra Klein said on his show that the “Obama coalition is over. It is defeated and exhausted. What comes next needs to be new.”

For all its political benefits, the history of the DLC reveals two fundamental problems that centrist politics can create. First, it can result in a party leaving behind traditions that remained at the heart of its appeal to most supporters. Second, they can dissuade parties from the hard work of really reimagining their ideas and constituencies in bold ways that are usually essential to realignments.

With an eye on 2028, Democrats must watch for policy decisions that could help them at the electoral level in the near future but harm their long-term potential to create a new governing coalition to supplant the one Obama built.

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Wolfwood | Author: Marianna Baer | Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (2023)

[meta-squash]

Squash's Book Roundup 2023

Last year I read 67 books. This year my goal was 70, but I very quickly passed that, so in total I read 92 books this year. Honestly I have no idea how I did it, it just sort of happened. My other goal was to read an equal amount of fiction and nonfiction this year (usually fiction dominates), and I was successful in that as well. Another goal which I didn’t have at the outset but which kind of organically happened after the first month or so of reading was that I wanted to read mostly strange/experimental/transgressive/unusual fiction. My nonfiction choices were just whatever looked interesting or cool, but I also organically developed a goal of reading a wider spread of subjects/genres of nonfiction. A lot of the books I read this year were books I’d never heard of, but stumbled across at work. Also, finally more than 1/3 of what I read was published in the 21st century.

I’ll do superlatives and commentary at the end, so here is what I read in 2023:

-The Commitments by Roddy Doyle -A Simple Story: The Last Malambo by Leila Guerriero -The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell -Uzumaki by Junji Ito -Chroma by Derek Jarman -The Emerald Mile: The epic story of the fastest ride in history through the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko -Venus by Suzan-Lori Parks -The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington -Sacred Sex: Erotic writings from the religions of the world by Robert Bates -The Virginia State Colony For Epileptics And The Feebleminded by Molly McCully Brown -A Spy In The House Of Love by Anais Nin -The Sober Truth: Debunking the bad science behind 12-step programs and the rehab industry by Lance Dodes -The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea by Yukio Mishima -The Aliens by Annie Baker -The Criminal Child And Other Essays by Jean Genet -Aimee and Jaguar: A Love Story, Berlin 1943 by Erica Fischer -The Master And Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov -The Mustache by Emmanuel Carriere -Maldoror by Comte de Lautreamont -Narrow Rooms by James Purdy -At Your Own Risk by Derek Jarman -Escape From Freedom by Erich Fromm -Countdown: A Subterranean Magazine #3 by Underground Press Syndicate Collective -Fabulosa! The story of Britain's secret gay language by Paul Baker -The Golden Spruce: A true story of myth, madness and greed by John Vaillant -Querelle de Roberval by Kevin Lambert -Fire The Bastards! by Jack Green -Closer by Dennis Cooper -The Woman In The Dunes by Kobo Abe -Opium: A Diary Of His Cure by Jean Cocteau -Worker-Student Action Committees France May '68 by Fredy Perlman and R. Gregoire -Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher -The Sound Of Waves by Yukio Mishima -One Day In My Life by Bobby Sands -Corydon by Andre Gide -Noopiming by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson -Man Alive: A true story of violence, forgiveness and becoming a man by Thomas Page McBee -The Artist's Reality: Philosophies of Art by Mark Rothko -Damage by Josephine Hart -Schoolgirl by Osamu Dazai -The Passion According to G.H. by Clarice Lispector -The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion and Rock n Roll by Simon Reynolds and Joy Press -The Traffic Power Structure by planka.nu -Bird Man: The many faces of Robert Straud by Jolene Babyak -Seven Dada Manifestos by Tristan Tzara

-The Journalist by Harry Mathews -Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber -Moscow To The End Of The Line by Venedikt Erofeev -Morvern Callar by Alan Warner -The Poetics Of Space by Gaston Bachelard -A Boy's Own Story by Edmund White -The Coming Insurrection by The Invisible Committee -Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson -Notes From The Sick Room by Steve Finbow -Artaud The Momo by Antonin Artaud -Doctor Rat by William Kotzwinkle -Recollections Of A Part-Time Lady by Minette -trans girl suicide museum by Hannah Baer -The 99% Invisible City by Roman Mars -Sweet Days Of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy -Breath: The new science of a lost art by James Nestor -What We See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund -The Cardiff Tapes (1972) by Garth Evans -The Ark Sakura by Kobo Abe -Mad Like Artaud by Sylvere Lotringer -The Story Of The Eye by Georges Bataille -Little Blue Encyclopedia (For Vivian) by Hazel Jane Plante -Blood And Guts In High School by Kathy Acker -Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton -Splendid's by Jean Genet -VAS: An Opera In Flatland by Steve Tomasula -Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want To Come: One introvert's year of saying yes by Jessica Pan -Whores For Gloria by William T. Vollmann -The Notebooks by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Larry Walsh (editor) -L'Astragale by Albertine Sarrazin -The Decay Of Lying and other essays by Oscar Wilde -The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot -Open Throat by Henry Hoke -Prisoner Of Love by Jean Genet -The Fifth Wound by Aurora Mattia -The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx -My Friend Anna: The true story of a fake heiress by Rachel DeLoache Williams -Mammother by Zachary Schomburg -Building The Commune: Radical democracy in Venezuela by George Cicarello-Maher -Blackouts by Justin Torres -Cheapjack by Philip Allingham -Near To The Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector -The Trayvon Generation by Elizabeth Alexander -Skye Papers by Jamika Ajalon -Exercises In Style by Raymon Queneau -Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein -The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson

~Some number factoids~ I read 46 fiction and 46 nonfiction. One book, The Fifth Wound by Aurora Mattia, is fictionalized/embellished autobiography, so it could go half in each category if we wanted to do that, but I put it in the fiction category. I tried to read as large a variety of nonfiction subjects/genres as I could. A lot of the nonfiction I read has overlapping subjects, so I’ve chosen to sort by the one that seems the most overarching. By subject, I read: 5 art history/criticism, 5 biographies, 1 black studies, 1 drug memoir, 2 essay collections, 2 history, 2 Latin American studies, 4 literary criticism, 1 music history, 2 mythology/religion, 1 nature, 4 political science, 2 psychology, 5 queer studies, 2 science, 1 sociology, 1 travel, 2 true crime, 3 urban planning. I also read more queer books in general (fiction and nonfiction) than I have in years, coming in at 20 books.

The rest of my commentary and thoughts under a cut because it's fairly long

Here’s a photo of all the books I read that I own a physical copy of (minus Closer by Dennis Cooper which a friend is borrowing):

~Superlatives and Thoughts~

I read so many books this year I’m going to do a runner-up for each superlative category.

Favorite book: This is such a hard question this year. I think I gave out more five-star ratings on Goodreads this year than I ever have before. The books that got 5 stars from me this year were A Simple Story: The Last Malambo by Leila Guerriero, Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher, The Emerald Mile by Kevin Fedarko, The Mustache by Emmanuel Carriere, The Passion According to GH by Clarice Lispector, trans girl suicide museum by Hannah Baer, The Fifth Wound by Aurora Mattia, Mammother by Zachary Schomburg, and Blackouts by Justin Torres. But I think my favorite book of the year was The Fifth Wound by Aurora Mattia. It is an embellished, fictionalized biography of the author’s life, chronicling a breakup that occurred just before she began her transition, and then a variety of emotional events afterward and her renewal of a connection with that person after a number of years had passed. The writing style is beautiful, extremely decadent, and sits in a sort of venn diagram of poetry, theory, fantasy and biography. My coworker who recommended this book to me said no one she’d recommended it to had finished it because they found it so weird. I read the first 14 pages very slowly because I didn’t exactly know what the book was doing, but I quickly fell completely in love with the imagery and the formatting style and the literary and religious references that have been worked into the book both as touchstones for biography and as vehicles for fantasy. There is a video I remember first seeing years ago, in which a beautiful pinkish corn snake slithers along a hoop that is part of a hanging mobile made of driftwood and macrame and white beads and prism crystals. This was the image that was in the back of my head the entire time I was reading The Fifth Wound, because it matched the decadence and the strangeness and the crystalline beauty of the language and visuals in the book. It is a pretty intense book, absolutely packed with images and emotion and ideas and preserved vignettes where reality and fantasy and theory overlap. It’s one of those books that’s hard to describe because it’s so full. It’s dense not in that the words or ideas are hard to understand, but in that it’s overflowing with imagery and feelings, and it feels like an overflowing treasure chest. Runner-up:The Mustache by Emmanuel Carriere. However, this book wins for a different superlative, so I’ve written more about it there.

Least favorite book: Querelle de Roberval by Kevin Lambert. I wrote a whole long review of it. In summary, Lambert’s book takes its name from Querelle de Brest, a novel by Jean Genet, and is apparently meant to be an homage to Genet’s work. Unfortunately, Lambert seems to misunderstand or ignore all the important aspects of Genet’s work that make it so compelling, and instead twists certain motifs Genet uses as symbols of love or transcendence into meaningless or negative connotations. He also attempts to use Genet’s mechanic of inserting the author into the narrative and allowing the author to have questionable or conflicting morals in order to emphasize certain aspects of the characters or narrative, except he does so too late in the game and ends up just completely undermining everything he writes. This book made me feel insulted on behalf of Jean Genet and all the philosophical thought he put into his work. Runner-up: What We See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund. This graphic designer claims that when people read they don’t actually imagine what characters look like and can’t conjure up an image in their head when asked something like “What does Jane Eyre look like to you?” Unfortunately, there’s nothing scientific in the book to back this up and it’s mostly “I” statements, so it’s more like “What Peter Mendelsund Sees (Or Doesn’t See) When He Reads”. It’s written in what seems to be an attempt to mimic Marshall McLuhan’s style in The Medium Is The Massage, but it isn’t done very well. I spent most of my time reading this book thinking This does not reflect my experience when I read novels so I think really it’s just a bad book written by someone who maybe has some level of aphantasia or maybe is a visual but not literary person, and who assumes everyone else experiences the same thing when they read. (Another runner-up would be The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell, but I think that’s a given because it’s an awful piece of revisionist, racist trash, so I won’t write a whole thing about it. I can if someone wants me to.)

Most surprising/unexpected book: The Mustache by Emmanuel Carriere. This book absolutely wins for most surprising. However, I don’t want to say too much about it because the biggest surprise is the end. It was the most shocking, most unexpected and bizarre endings to a novel I’ve read in a long time, and I absolutely loved it. It was weird from the start and it just kept getting weirder. The unnamed narrator decides, as a joke, to shave off the moustache he’s had for his entire adult life. When his wife doesn’t react, he assumes that she’s escalating their already-established tradition of little pranks between each other. But then their mutual friends say nothing about the change, and neither do his coworkers, and he starts spiral into confusion and paranoia. I don’t want to spoil anything else because this book absolutely blew me away with its weirdness and its existential dread and anyone who likes weird books should read it. Runner-up: Morvern Callar by Alan Warner. I don’t even know what compelled me to open this book at work, but I’m glad I did. The book opens on Christmas, where the main character, Morvern, discovers her boyfriend dead by suicide on the kitchen floor of their flat. Instead of calling the police or her family, she takes a shower, gets her things and leaves for work. Her narrative style is strange, simultaneously very detached and extremely emotional, but emotional in an abstract way, in which descriptions and words come out stilted or strangely constructed. The book becomes a narrative of Morvern’s attempts to find solitude and happiness, from the wilderness of Scotland to late night raves and beaches in an unnamed Mediterranean city. The entire book is scaffolded by a built-in playlist. Morvern’s narrative is punctuated throughout by accounts of exactly what she’s listening to on her Walkman. The narrative style and the playlist and the bizarre behavior of the main character were not at all what I was expecting when I opened the book, but I read the entire book in about 3 hours and I was captivated the whole time. If you like the Trainspotting series of books, I would recommend this one for sure.

Most fun book: The Emerald Mile by Kevin Fedarko. This book was amazing. It was like reading an adventure novel and a thriller and a book on conservationism all wrapped into one and it was clearly very passionately written and it was a blast. I picked it up because I was pricing it at work and I read the captions on one of the photo inserts, which intrigued me, so I read the first page, and then I couldn’t stop. The two main narratives in the book are the history of the Grand Canyon (more specifically the damming of the Colorado River) and the story of a Grand Canyon river guide called Kenton Grua, who decided with two of his river guide friends to break the world record for fastest boat ride down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. The book is thoroughly researched, and reaches back to the first written record of the canyon, then charts the history of the canyon and the river up to 1983 when Grua made his attempt to race down the river, and then the aftermath and what has happened to everyone in the years since. All of the historical figures as well as the “current” figures of 1983 come to life, and are passionately portrayed. It’s a genuine adventure of a book, and I highly recommend it. Runner-up: Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton. It asks “What if Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys was actually a trans woman?” Actually, that’s not quite it. It asks “What if a trans woman living in poverty in southwest America believed to an almost spiritual level that Brian Wilson was a trans woman?” The main character and narrator, Gala, is convinced that the lead singer of her favorite band, the Get Happies, (a fictional but fairly obvious parallel to the Beach Boys) is a trans woman. Half the book is her writing out her version of the singer’s life history, and the other half is her life working at a hostel in Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico, where she meets a woman who forces her out of her comfort zone and encourages her to face certain aspects of her self and identity and her connection with others. It’s a weird novel, and definitely not for everyone, but it’s fun. I was reading it on the train home and I was so into it that I missed my stop and had to get off at the next station and wait 20 minutes for the train going back the other way.

Book that taught me the most: Breath: The new science of a lost art by James Nestor. In it, Nestor explores why humans as a general population are so bad at breathing properly. He interviews scientists and alternative/traditional health experts, archaeologists, historians and religious scholars. He uses himself as a guinea pig to experiment with different breathing techniques from ancient meditation styles to essentially overdosing on oxygen in a lab-controlled environment to literally plugging his nose shut to only mouth-breathe for two weeks (and then vice-versa with nose breathing). It was interesting to see a bunch of different theories a laid out together regarding what kind of breathing is best, as well as various theories on the history of human physiology and why breathing is hard. Some of it is scientific, some pseudoscience, some just ancient meditation techniques, but he takes a crack at them all. What was kind of cool is that he tries every theory and experiment with equal enthusiasm and doesn’t really seem to favor any one method. Since he’s experimenting on himself, a lot of it is about the effects the experiments had on him specifically and his experiences with different types of breathing. His major emphasis/takeaway is that focusing on breathing and learning to change the ways in which we breathe will be beneficial in the long run (and that we should all breath through our noses more). While I don’t think changing how you breathe is a cure-all (some of the pseudoscience he looks at in this book claims so) I certainly agree that learning how to breath better is a positive goal. Runner-up: The Sober Truth by Lance Dodes. I say runner-up because a lot of the content of the book is things that I had sort of vague assumptions about based on my knowledge of addiction and AA and mental illness in general. But Dodes put into words and illustrated with numbers and anecdotes and case studies what I just kind of had a vague feeling about. It was cool to see AA so thoroughly debunked by an actual psychiatrist and in such a methodical way, since my skepticism about it has mostly been based on the experiences of people I know in real life, anecdotes I’ve read online, or musicians/writers/etc I’m a fan of that went through it and were negatively affected.

Most interesting/thought provoking book: Mammother by Zachary Schomburg. The biggest reason this book was so interesting is because the little world in which it exists is so strange and yet so utterly complete. In a town called Pie Time (where birds don’t exist and the main form of work is at the beer-and-cigarettes factory) a young boy called Mano who has been living his childhood as a girl decides that he is now a man and that it’s time for him to grow up. As this happens, the town is struck by an affliction called God’s Finger. People die seemingly out of nowhere, from a hole in their chest, and some object comes out of the hole. Mano collects the things that come out of these holes, and literally holds them in order to love them, but the more he collects, the bigger he becomes as he adds objects to his body. A capitalist business called XO shows up, trying to convince the people of Pie Time that they can protect themselves from God’s Finger with a number of enterprises, and starts to slowly take over the town. But Mano doesn’t believe death is something that should be run from. This book is so pretty, and the symbolism/metaphors, even when obvious, feel as though they belong organically in the world. A quote on the back of the book says it is “as nearly complete a world as can be”, and I think that’s a very accurate description. The story is interesting, the characters are compelling, and the magical realist world in which the story exists is fascinating. Runner up: trans girl suicide museum by Hannah Baer. This is a series of essays taken (for the most part) from Baer’s blog posts. They span a chunk of time in which she writes her thoughts and musings on her experience transition and transgender existence in general. It is mostly a series of pieces reflecting on “early” stages of transition. But I thought it was really cool to see an intellectual and somewhat philosophical take on transition, written by someone who has only been publicly out for a few years, and therefore is looking at certain experiences with a fresh gaze. As the title suggests, a lot of the book is a bit sad, but it’s not all doom and gloom. A lot of the emphasis is on the important of community when it comes to the experience of starting to transition and the first few years, and the importance of community on the trans experience in general. I really liked reading Hannah Baer’s thoughts as a queer intellectual who was writing about this stuff as she experienced it (or not too long after) rather than writing about the experience of early transition years and years down the line. It meant the writing was very sharp and the emotion was clear and not clouded by nostalgia.

Other thoughts/commentary on books I don’t have superlatives for:

I’m glad my first (full) book read in 2023 was A Simple Story: The Last Malambo by Leila Guierrero. It’s a small, compact gem of a book that follows the winner of an Argentinian dance competition. The Malambo is a traditional dance, and the competition is very fierce, and once someone wins, they can never compete again. The author follows the runner-up of the previous year, who has come to compete again. It paints a vivid picture of the history of the dance, the culture of the competition, and the character of the dancer the author has chosen to follow. It’s very narrowly focused, which makes it really compelling.

The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington could have easily won for most fun or most interesting book. Carrington was a surrealist writer and painter (and was in a relationship with Max Ernst until she was institutionalized and he was deported by the Nazis). In The Hearing Trumpet, an elderly woman called Marian is forced by her family to go live in an old ladies’ home. The first strange thing about the place is that all of the little cabins each woman lives in is shaped like some odd object, like an iron, or ice cream, or a rabbit. The other old women at the institution are a mixed bag, and the warden of the place is hostile. Marian starts to suspect that there are secrets, and even witchcraft involved, and she and a few of the other ladies start to try and unravel the occult mysteries hidden in the grounds of the home. The whole book is fun and strange, and the ending is an extremely entertaining display of feminist occult surrealism.

Sacred Sex: Erotica writings from the religions of the world by Robert Bates was a book I had to read for research for my debunking of Withdrawn Traces. It was really very interesting, but it was also hilarious to read because maybe 5% of any of the texts included were actually erotic. It should have been called “romantic writings from the religions of the world” because so little of the writing had anything to do with sex, even in a more metaphorical sense.

Every time I read Yukio Mishima I’m reminded how much I love his style. The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea almost usurped The Temple of the Golden Pavilion as my favorite Mishima novel. I’m fascinated with the way that Mishima uses his characters to explore the circumstance of having very intense feelings or reactions towards something and simultaneously wanting to experience that, while also wanting to have complete control and not feel them at all. There’s a scene in this novel where Noboru and his friends brutally kill and dissect a cat; it’s an intense and vividly rendered scene, made all the more intense by Noboru desperately conflicted between feeling affected by the killing and wanting to force himself to feel nothing. The amazing subtle theme running through the book is the difference between Noboru’s intense emotions and his desire/struggle to control them and subdue them versus Ryuji’s more subtle emotion that grows through the book despite his natural reserve. I love endings like the one in this book, where it “cuts to black” and you don’t actually see the final act, it’s simply implied.

In 2016 or 2017, I ran lights for a showcase for the drama department at UPS (I can’t remember now what it was) that included a bunch of scenes from various plays. I remember a segment from Hir by Taylor Mac, and a scene from The Aliens by Annie Baker. In the scene that I saw, one of the characters describes how when he was a boy, he couldn’t stop saying the word ladder, and the monologue culminates in a full paragraph that is just the word “ladder.” I can’t remember who was acting in the one that I saw at UPS, but that monologue blew me away, the way that one word repeated 127 conveyed so much. This year a collection of Annie Baker’s plays came in at work so I sat down and read the whole play and it was just incredible. I’d love to see the full play live, it’s absolutely captivating.

Narrow Rooms by James Purdy was a total diamond in the rough. It takes place in Appalachia, in perhaps the 1950s although it’s somewhat hard to tell. It follows the strange gay entanglement between four adult men in their 20s, who have known each other all their lives. It traces threads of bizarre codependency, and the lines crossed between love and hate. The main character, Sidney, has just returned home after serving a sentence for manslaughter. On his return, he finds that an old lover has been rendered disabled in an accident, and that an old school rival/object of obsession has been waiting for him. This rival, nicknamed “The Renderer” because of an old family occupation, has been watching Sidney all their lives. Both of them hate the other, but know that they’re destined to meet in some way. Caught in the middle of their strange relationship are Gareth, Sidney’s now-disabled former lover, and Brian, a young man who thinks he’s in love with The Renderer. The writing style took me some time to get used to, as it is written as though by someone who has taught themselves, or has only had basic classes on fiction writing. But the plot itself is so strange and the characters are so stilted in their own internality that it actually fits really well. Like The Mustache, this book had one of the strangest, most intensely visceral and shocking endings I’ve read in a while. It was also “one that got away.” I read it at work, then put it on my staff picks shelf, and only realized after someone else bought it that I should have kept it for myself.

The Passion According to G.H. by Clarice Lispector blew my mind. I really don’t want to spoil any of it, but I highly encourage anyone who hasn’t read it to do. The build in tension is perfect and last 30 pages are just incredible. Lispector’s style is so unique and so beautiful and tosses out huge existential questions like it’s nothing, and I love her work so much.

Moscow To The End Of The Line by Venedikt Erofeev was another really unexpected book. It’s extremely Russian (obviously) and really fun until suddenly it isn’t. The main character, a drunkard, gets on a train from Moscow to Petushki, the town at the end of the line (hence the title), in order to see his lover. On the way, he befriends the other people in his train car and they all steadily get drunker and drunker, until he falls asleep and misses his stop. Very Russian, somewhat strange, and I was surprised that it was written in the late 60s and not the 30s.

Dr. Rat by William Kotzwinkle was what I expected. Weird in a goofy way, a bit silly even when it’s serious, and rather heavy-handed satire. The titular Dr Rat is a rat who has spent his whole life in a laboratory and has gone insane. The other animals who are being tested on want to escape, but he’s convinced that all the testing is for the good of science and wants to thwart their rebellion. Unfortunately, all the other animals who are victims of human cruelty/callousness/invasion/deforestation/etc around the world are also planning to rebel, connection with each other through a sort of psychic television network. It’s a very heavy-handed environmentalist/anti-animal cruelty metaphor and general societal satire, but it’s silly and fun too.

Confessions Of A Part-Time Lady by Minette is a self-published, nearly impossible to find book that came into my work. It’s self-printed and bound, and was published in the 70s. It is the autobiographical narrative of a trans woman who did drag and burlesque and theatre work all across the midwest, as well as New York and San Francisco, from the 1930s up to the late 60s. It was originally a series of interviews by the two editors, who published it in narrative form, and it includes photos from Minette’s personal collection. It’s an amazing story, and a glimpse into a really unique time period of gender performance and queer life. She even mentions Sylvia Rivera, specifically when talking about gay activism. She talks about how the original group of the Gay Liberation Front was an eclectic mix of all sorts of people of all sexualities and genders and expressions. Then when the Gay Activists Alliance “took over”, they started pushing out people who were queer in a more transgressive or unusual way and there was more encouragement on being more heteronormative. She mentions Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P Johnson, saying “I remember Sylvia Rivera who founded STAR – Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries. She was always trying to say things – the same kinds of things Marsha P Johnson says in a sweeter way – and they treated her like garbage. If that’s what ‘order’ is, haven’t we had enough?”

Whores For Gloria by William T Vollmann was exactly as amazing as I thought it would be. I love Vollmann’s style, because you can tell that even though the characters he’s writing about are characters, they’re absolutely based on people that he met or saw or spoke to in real life. The main character, Jimmy, is searching for his former lover, Gloria, who has either died or left him (it is unclear for most of the novel). He begins to use tokens bought from sex workers (hair, clothes, etc) to attempt to conjure her into reality, and when that doesn’t work, he pays them to tell him stories from their lives, and through their lives he tries to conjure Gloria. This novel’s ending had extremely similar vibes to the ending of Moscow To The End Of The Line.

Prisoner Of Love by Jean Genet was a lot to take in. It was weird reading it at this moment in time, and completely unplanned. It’s just that I have only a few more books to read before I’ve made my way through all Genet’s works that have been translated into English, and it was next on the list. Most of the book focuses on Genet’s time spent in Palestine in the 70s and his short return in the 80s. He also discusses the time he spent with the Black Panthers in the US, although it’s not the main subject of the book. Viewing Palestine from the point of view of Genet’s weird philosophical and moral worldview was really interesting, because what he chooses to spend time looking at or talking about is probably not what most would focus on, and because even his most political discussions are tinged with the uniquely Genet-style spirituality (if you can call it that? I don’t know what to call it) that is so much the exact opposite of objective. It’s definitely not a book about Palestine I would recommend reading without also having a grasp of Genet’s style of looking at the world and his various obsessions and preoccupations, because they really do inform a lot of his commentary. It was also written 15 years after his first trip to Palestine, partly from memory and partly from journal entries/notes, which gives it a sort of weirdly dreamlike quality much like his novels.

Blackouts by Justin Torres was so amazing! It blends real life and fiction together so well that I didn’t even realize that most of the people he references in the novel are real historical figures until he mentioned Ben Reitman, who I recognized as the Chicago King Of The Hobos and Emma Goldman’s lover. The book follows an unnamed narrator who has come to a hotel or apartment in the southwest in order to care for a dying elderly man called Juan Gay. Juan has a book called Sex Variants, a study of homosexuality from the 1940s which has been censored and blacked out. Back and forth, the narrator and Juan trade stories. The narrator tells his life story up until the present, including his first meeting with Juan in a mental hospital as a teenager. In turn, Juan tells the story of the Sex Variants book and its creator, Jan Gay (Ben Reitman’s real life daughter). The book explores the reliability of narrative, the power of collecting and documenting life stories, and of removing or changing things in order to create new or different narratives.

Again, Clarice Lispector rocking my world! Generally I can read a 200-ish page novel in somewhere between 2 and 4 hours depending on the content/writing style. Near To The Wild Heart took me 9 hours to read because I kept wanting to stop and reread entire paragraphs because they were so interesting or pretty or philosophical. The story focuses on Joana, whose strange way of looking at the world and going through life makes everyone sort of wary of her. This book is so layered I don’t really know how to describe it. So much of it is philosophical or existential musings through the vehicle of Joana. Unsurprisingly, it’s a beautiful book and I highly recommend it.

I’m just going to copy/paste my Goodreads review for Skye Papers by Jamika Ajalon: This book had so much potential that just…fell short. I could tell that it was written for an American audience but the way the reader/Skye is “taught” certain British terms and/or slang felt a bit patronizing. The characters were fleshed out and interesting and I liked them a lot but the plot crumbled quickly in the last half of the book Things sped up to a degree that felt strange and unnatural, the book’s pacing was inconsistent throughout. Perhaps that was deliberate considering the reveal at the climax, but if it was, it should have been utilized better. If the inconsistent pacing wasn’t deliberate, then it just made the book feel strange to read. There were moments were I felt like there should have been more fleshing out of certain character relationships. Even with the reveal at the end and the explanation of Pieces’ erratic/avoidant behavior, I wish there had been more fleshing out of the relationship or friendship between her and Skye at the beginning, when Skye first arrives in London. Characters who seemed cool/interesting got glossed over and instead there was a lot more dwelling on Skye walking around or busking or just hanging out. I could have gone without the last 30 or so pages after the big reveal, where Skye went back through everything that happened with the knowledge she (and the reader) had gained. It dragged on and on and at that point I felt like the whole story was so contrived that I just wasn’t interested anymore. A friend who read this book before I did said she thought it was an experimental novel that just hadn’t gone far enough, and I completely agree with her. I think if the style with the film script interludes went further, into printed visuals or more weirdness with the interludes, more experimental style with the main story, or something, it would have been really good. It just didn’t push hard enough.

The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson was a fun little true crime novel about a young flautist who broke into a small English natural history museum in 2009 and stole hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of preserved rare bird skins dating back to the 19th century. He was a salmon fly-tying enthusiast and prodigy, and old Victorian fly designs used feathers of rare birds. The book first goes through the heist and the judicial proceedings, then examines the niche culture of Victorian fly-tying enthusiasts and obsessives, and then chronicles the author’s attempts to track down some of the missing birds. It was a quick, easy read, but fun and an unusual subject and I quite enjoyed it.

In 2024 I don’t plan on trying to surpass or even reach this year’s number. I’m going to start off the year reading The Recognitions by William Gaddis, then I’m going to re-read a number of books that I come across at work or in conversation and think Huh, I should reread that one of these days. So far, the books I am currently planning to reread: Sometimes A Great Notion by Ken Kesey, As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, The People Of Paper by Salvador Plascencia, Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, The Mustache by Emmanuel Carriere, McGlue by Otessa Moshfegh, Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neil, Acid Snow by Larry Mitchell, and Nightwood by Djuna Barnes.

[alexlacquemanne]

Mai MMXXIII

Films

Quand la Panthère rose s'emmêle (The Pink Panther Strikes Again) (1976) de Blake Edwards avec Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Leonard Rossiter, Colin Blakely, Lesley-Anne Down, André Maranne, Michael Robbins et Burt Kwouk

Le Dimanche de la vie (1967) de Jean Herman avec Danielle Darrieux, Jean-Pierre Moulin, Olivier Hussenot, Françoise Arnoul, Berthe Bovy, Anne Doat, Hubert Deschamps et Jean Rochefort

Romance inachevée (The Glenn Miller Story) (1954) de Anthony Mann avec James Stewart, June Allyson, Henry Morgan, Charles Drake, George Tobias et Barton MacLane

La Canonnière du Yang-Tsé (The Sand Pebbles) (1966) de Robert Wise avec Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Richard Crenna, Candice Bergen, Marayat Andriane et Makoto Iwamatsu

Deux Heures moins le quart avant Jésus-Christ (1982) de Jean Yanne avec Coluche, Michel Serrault, Jean Yanne, Michel Auclair, Françoise Fabian, Mimi Coutelier et Darry Cowl

Le Dernier Voyage (2020) de Romain Quirot avec Hugo Becker, Paul Hamy, Lya Oussadit-Lessert, Jean Reno, Bruno Lochet et Émilie Gavois-Kahn

Le Dernier Métro (1980) de François Truffaut avec Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu, Heinz Bennent, Jean Poiret, Andréa Ferréol, Paulette Dubost, Jean-Louis Richard et Maurice Risch

Les cadavres ne portent pas de costard (Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid) (1982) de Carl Reiner avec Steve Martin, Rachel Ward, Carl Reiner, Reni Santoni, George Gaynes, Barbara Stanwyck, Ava Gardner, Burt Lancaster, Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant et Ingrid Bergman

Docteur Folamour ou : comment j'ai appris à ne plus m'en faire et à aimer la bombe (Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) (1964) de Stanley Kubrick avec Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, Peter Bull et Tracy Reed

Un homme est passé (Bad Day at Black Rock) (1955) de John Sturges avec Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis, Dean Jagger, Walter Brennan, John Ericson, Ernest Borgnine et Lee Marvin

Le Monde, la Chair et le Diable (The World, The Flesh and the Devil) (1959) de MacDougall avec Harry Belafonte, Inger Stevens et Mel Ferrer

La Belle Saison (2015) de Catherine Corsini avec Izïa Higelin, Cécile de France, Noémie Lvovsky, Kévin Azaïs, Lætitia Dosch et Benjamin Bellecour

Le Grand Embouteillage (L'ingorgo) (1979) de Luigi Comencini avec Annie Girardot, Fernando Rey, Miou-Miou, Gérard Depardieu, Ugo Tognazzi, Marcello Mastroianni, Stefania Sandrelli, Alberto Sordi, Orazio Orlando, Gianni Cavina, Harry Baer et Ángela Molina

Ariane (Love in the Afternoon) (1957) de Billy Wilder avec Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, Maurice Chevalier, Van Doude, John McGiver et Lise Bourdin

Voici le temps des assassins (1956) de Julien Duvivier avec Jean Gabin, Danièle Delorme, Gérard Blain, Lucienne Bogaert, Germaine Kerjean, Gabrielle Fontan et Jean-Paul Roussillon

Séries

Castle Saison 1, 2

Des fleurs pour ta tombe - Jeunes Filles au père - Amis à la vie, à la mort - Sexe, Scandale et Politique - Calcul glacial - La Piste du vaudou - Crimes dans la haute - Mémoires d’outre-tombe - Où est Angela ? - Double face - La Mort à crédit - Quitte ou Double - L'Enfer de la mode - L'Escroc au cœur tendre - L'auteur qui m'aimait - Pour l'amour du sang - Dernières paroles

Coffre à Catch

#113 : Unforgiven 2008 : Matt Hardy will not die ! - #114 : Matt Hardy champion, les débuts de Jack Swagger ! - #115 : La ECW, c'est bien, mais avec Vianney c'est mieux ! - #116 : Maryse : Pourquoi es-tu si belle? - # 117 : All Star Main Event + Gérard Lenorman !

James May : Notre Homme au Japon

Allez ! - Chou farci - Déodorant - Salut Bim ! - Le garçon de la pêche - Prune salée

Friends Saison 8

Celui qui venait de dire oui - Celui qui avait un sweat rouge - Celui qui découvrait sa paternité - Celui qui avait une vidéo - Celui qui draguait Rachel - Celui qui perturbait Halloween - Celui qui voulait garder Rachel - Celui qui engageait une strip-teaseuse - Celui qui avait fait courir la rumeur - Celui qui défendait sa sœur - Celui qui ne voulait pas aller plus loin - Celui qui passait une soirée avec Rachel - Celui qui découvrait les joies du bain - Celui qui découvrait le placard secret - Celui qui visionnait la vidéo de l'accouchement - Celui qui avouait tout à Rachel - Celui qui voyait dans les feuilles de thé - Celui qui était trop positif

Inspecteur Barnaby Saison 8

Un cri dans la nuit - Les Régates de la vengeance - Requiem pour une orchidée - Pari mortel - Double vue - Le Saut de la délivrance - L'assassin est un fin gourmet - Rhapsodie macabre

L'agence tous risques Saison 4, 5

Qui est qui ? - Cowboy George - La roue de la fortune - Services en tous genres - Club privé - Harry a des ennuis - Un monde de fou - La mission de la paix - Les orages du souvenir - Un témoin capital : 1re partie - Condamnation : 2e partie - Exécution : 3e partie - Match au sommet - Théorie de la révolution - Mort sur ordonnance - Une vieille amitié

Columbo Saison 2

Rançon pour un homme mort - Requiem pour une star

Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie Saison 3

Jusqu'à ce que la mort nous sépare - Meurtres du troisième type

Affaires Sensibles

Algues vertes : le danger qui empoisonne la Bretagne - James Jesus Angleton : paranoïa à la CIA - THE GRIM SLEEPER : Le faucheur en embuscade 1985-2007 - La création du festival de Cannes - 2000, les Jeux paralympiques de Sydney : la fraude des basketteurs espagnols

Bardot

Une enfant sage - B.B - La Madrague - Le papillon - Bébé - La vérité

Les Enquêtes de Morse saison 9

Mascarade - Prélude - Sorties de scène

James May's Cars of the People Saison 1, 2

Transports et totalitarisme - Rien n'arrête les nouilles - Les voitures qui nous ont toujours fait rêver - La puissance de la vapeur - 4x4 - Boom (et effondrement) d'après-guerre

The Grand Tour Saison 4, 3, 1, 2

The Grand Tour présente… Seamen - The Grand Tour présente… La Chasse au trésor - Eaux salées et eaux douces - The Grand Tour: A Scandi Flick - Virée à l’Italienne - Spéciale Colombie : Première partie - Spéciale Colombie ; Deuxième partie - Oh, Canada - Coup de vieux

Livres

Orage de chaleur de Richard Castle

Cinq Gars pour Singapour de Jean Bruce

Lucky Luke, tome 27 : Le 20ème de cavalerie de Morris et René Goscinny

Garôden de Jirô Taniguchi et Baku Yumemakura

Une enquête du commissaire Dupin : Etrange printemps aux Glénan de Jean-Luc Bannalec

Détective Conan, tome 9 de Gôshô Aoyama

Il était une fois… Le cinéma, Tome 1 : Des frères Lumière à Charlie Chaplin de Jean-Pierre Georges et Dentiblu

[gold2558]

The interview on FOX WITH HARRIS HER PERFORMANCE WAS PATHETICALLY TERRIBLE SHE HAD NO SENSIBLE ANSWERS TO BAERS QUESTIONS OTHER THAN BLAMING TRUMP ALSO HER PLANS ARE NO PLANS ARE OPEN ENDED

[sporadiceagleheart]

Today's joy with Rachel Joy Scott Friday edits is Rest In Peace to those famous stars & angels Verne Troyer, Richard Griffiths, Alan Rickman, Richard Harris, Michael Gambon, John Hurt, Robbie Coltrane, Helen McCrory, Roberts Blossom, Billie Burke, Frank Sutton, Jim Nabors, Judy Garland, Margaret Hamilton, Clara Blandick, Shirley Temple and baby Leroy, Paul Grant, Leslie Phillips, Robert Hardy, Timothy Bateson, Terence Bayler, Robert Knox, Sam Beazley, Paul Ritter, Dave Legeno, Peter Cartwright, Derek Deadman, Hazel Douglas, Alfred Burke, Jimmy Gardner, Elizabeth Spriggs, Bob Newhart, Tom Poston, Dean Martin, Mary Frann, Betty White, Rik Mayall, Brian Nickels, Jerry Reed, Matthew Perry, Raymond Burr, Mary Ann Jackson, Dorothy DeBorba, Mary Kornman, Mildred Kornman, Peaches Jackson, Peggy Cartwright, Darla Jean Hood, Jean Darling, Peggy Montgomery, Bob Barker, Lucille Ricksen, Michael Kenneth Williams, Pat E. Johnson, Richard Burton, Cyril Cusack, Roger Lloyd Pack, Peter Frye, John Boswell, James Walker, Shirley Rosemary Stelfox, Shirley Jean Rickert, Janet Key, June Marlowe, Virginia Weidler, Jane Withers, Peter Michael Falk, Bruce Kirby, Mike Lally, John Finnegan, Robert Culp, Vito Scotti, Val Avery, Fred Draper, Alan Fudge, Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, Richard Belzer, Richard Bull, Jerome Guardino, Bill Zuckert, Steven Gilborn, Ed McCready, Paul Carr, James Avery, Parley Edward Baer, Sherman Hemsley, Ellen Albertini Dow, Carl Reiner, Alan Wolf Arkin, Michael Jeter, Debbie Lee Carrington, James Caan, Ed Asner, Ana Ofelia Murguía, Paul Newman, Madge Sinclair, Robert Guillaume, Mary Ethel Gregory, Michael Landon, Katherine MacGregor, Kevin Hagen, Dabbs Greer, John Heard, Leonard Stone, John Candy, Victor Edwin French, Robin Williams, Peter Fonda, Geoffrey Palmer, Olivia Newton-John, Eve Arden, Rose Joan Blondell, Alice Ghostley, Darrell Zwerling, Dody Goodman, Lance Reddick, Andy Griffith, Don Knotts, Anissa Jones, Bridgette Andersen, Dominique Dunne, Samantha Reed Smith, Heather and Judith Barsi, Fred Rogers, Olivia Twenty Dahl, Roald Dahl, Sofie Magdalene Dahl, Walter Elias Disney, Ruth Flora Disney, Denise Marie Nickerson, Louis XVII, Lois Janes, Marie Thérèse de France, Christopher Plummer, Eazy-E, Peter Cartwright, John William "Johnny" Carson,

[ulkaralakbarova]

A mom and dad who usually say no decide to say yes to their kids’ wildest requests — with a few ground rules — on a whirlwind day of fun and adventure. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Allison Torres: Jennifer Garner Carlos Torres: Edgar Ramírez Katie Torres: Jenna Ortega Nando Torres: Julian Lerner Ellie Torres: Everly Carganilla H.E.R.: H.E.R. Mr. Deacon: Nat Faxon Hiring Executive: Molly Sims Jean the Paramedic: Fortune Feimster Officer Jones: Arturo Castro Billie / Concert Coordinator: Tracie Thoms Layla: Megan Stott Tara: Yimmy Yim Hailey Peterson: Snowden Grey Officer Chang: Hayden Szeto Julie: Alana Baer Brian: Graham Phillips Brent: Wolf Fleetwood-Ross Trevor: Adam Faison Mr. Hwang: James Kyson Counter Gal: Michelle La Mr. Chan: Leonardo Nam Miss Hoffling: Naomi Ekperigin Chase: James Calixte Rob: Alek Cole Jeremy: William Samiri Tony: Ruy Iskandar Teacher Beth: Cloie Wyatt Taylor Nurse Linda: Joanna Strapp Bob: Brent Morin Joan: Cass Buggé Karen: Lynn Andrews Security Guard: Jordan Johnson-Hinds KC: K.C. Clyde Mary: Katie Baker Rosemary: Ava Allan Brad: Cameron Johnson Woman on Something: Taylor Cooper Mom in Car: Faryn Einhorn Kablowey Maroon Team Player: Jeremy Culhane Kablowey Green Team Player: Kristi Lauren Kablowey Blue Team Player: Olivia Norman Korean Customer: Arvin Lee Man from Bathroom: Peter S. Kim Officiant: Ron Yerxa Helium Kid #1: Nicholas Sean Johnny Helium Kid #2: Cameron James Elie Seven Year Old Nando: Romyn Smith Ten Year Old Katie: Aliyah Torres Terrified Kid: Joshua Gallup Stevie: Danielle Jalade Woman in Cheetah Suit: Erin Allin O’Reilly Officer Antonio: Rafael Boza Harry: Tyler Riggin Kablowey Orange Team Player: Mike Lane Kablowey Orange Team Player #2: Sandy Fletcher Sound Mixer: Chase Meyer Party Kid #1: Lola Raie Party Kid #2: Aidan McGraw Maid of Honor: Rachel Amanda Bryant Athletic Kid #1: Coral Coye Athletic Kid #2: Kodiak Lehman Athletic Kid #3: Makea Leonard H.E.R. Band Member: Keithen Foster H.E.R. Band Member: Carrington Brown H.E.R. Band Member: Alonzo Harris H.E.R. Band Member: Ricardo Ramos H.E.R. Band Member: Ajanee Hambrick H.E.R. Band Member: Malik Spence Allah-Las Band Member: Miles Michaud Allah-Las Band Member: Matthew Correia Allah-Las Band Member: Pedrum Siadatian Allah-Las Band Member: Timothy Hill Film Crew: Production Design: Doug J. Meerdink Original Music Composer: Michael Andrews Producer: Jennifer Garner Set Decoration: Rosemary Brandenburg Makeup Artist: Deborah La Mia Denaver Director of Photography: Terry Stacey Executive Producer: Miguel Arteta Assistant Art Director: Mike Piccirillo Editor: Jay Deuby Costume Design: Susie DeSanto Supervising Sound Editor: Darren Sunny Warkentin Supervising Sound Editor: Andrew DeCristofaro Executive Producer: Mark Moran Producer: Daniel Rappaport Costume Supervisor: Mitchell Ray Kenney Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Will Files Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Mark Paterson Visual Effects Supervisor: Jean-François Ferland Executive Producer: Justin Malen Stunts: Kelli Barksdale Makeup Department Head: Cristina Waltz Producer: Lawrence Grey Set Costumer: Natasha Romanow Set Costumer: Cesha Ventre Visual Effects Producer: Marie-Claude Lafontaine Second Unit Director: Shauna Duggins Set Dresser: Fante Zamora Book: Tom Lichtenheld Utility Stunts: Mallory Thompson Set Decoration Buyer: Jennifer Pray Producer: Ben Everard Art Direction: Jason Perrine Production Coordinator: Sally Potters Makeup Artist: Jamie Hess Book: Amy Krouse Rosenthal Producer: Nicole King Executive Producer: Adam Simpson-Marshall Visual Effects Producer: Erin Hewitt Set Dresser: Max Bostic Visual Effects Supervisor: Brandon Nelson VFX Artist: Sébastien Chartier VFX Artist: Jason Evanko VFX Artist: Alyssa Koncelik-Diemer Movie Reviews: r96sk: Rather unoriginal, though the cast make it more likeable than it would otherwise be. ‘Yes Day’ is exactly what it says on the tin, you will not be shocked to find out what the plot is. It plays out in the most predictable way possible, even the hearty moments are a little too sickly at times. With that sai...

[arte-e-homoerotismo]

Westler

Westler é um filme de 1985 produzido originalmente para a televisão da Alemanha Ocidental e posteriormente lançado no cinema. Foi dirigido por Wieland Speck e transmitido pela ZDF .

Sinopse

Felix é visitado em Berlim Ocidental por um amigo americano de Los Angeles . Os dois fazem uma viagem de um dia a Berlim Oriental , onde conhecem Thomas. Thomas e Felix se apaixonam, mas são divididos pelo Muro , assim como toda a Alemanha da época. Felix tenta manter o relacionamento forte fazendo visitas regulares a Thomas no Leste, mas isso levanta suspeitas das autoridades da Alemanha Oriental . Eventualmente, Thomas tenta fugir para a Alemanha Ocidental voando para Praga , onde um amigo tcheco conseguiu contato com um ajudante de fuga.

Plano de fundo 

Westler é notável por seu retrato realista de um relacionamento gay em circunstâncias difíceis, bem como por ter sido filmado parcialmente em Berlim Oriental sem permissão das autoridades da Alemanha Oriental .

Elenco 

Sigurd Rachman como Félix

Rainer Stretcher como Thomas

Andy Lucas como Bruce

Frank Rediess como Bernie

Andreas Bernhardt como Jürgen

Sasha Kogo como Elke

Hans-Jürgen Punte como Lutze

Zazie de Paris as night club singer

Harry Baer como oficial da alfândega

Christoph Eichhorn como ator

Jörg Uwe Dost como convidado no bar

Thomas Kretschmann como soldado

Georges Stamkowski como Pavel

Os Waltons como a banda

Martin Zastrow como membro da banda

Engelbert Rehm como membro da banda

Andrew Kelner quando criança

Prêmios

Festival Max Ophüls, Prêmio do Público, 1985

Festival Internacional de Cinema Gay e Lésbico de São Francisco, Prêmio do Público, 1986

Festival Internacional de Cinema Gay e Lésbico de Torino, o Prato do Festival, 1987

Recepção 

O filme ganhou uma classificação do Rotten Tomatoes de 50%.

Helmut Schödel em Die Zeit disse "... secretamente deve ser filmado, secretamente amado... é sobre amor, não sobre verdade... estou animado..."

Enciclopédia de Cinema Internacional: “Um filme sobre o um no sentido múltiplo, o amor entre os sistemas”; Ele tenta descrever o Muro de Berlim não apenas como um obstáculo entre as pessoas e os blocos políticos, mas também como uma fronteira entre o Velho e o Novo Mundo. " 

Uwe Witiatock, do Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung disse: "Parcialmente sem permissão oficial de filmagem e, portanto, filmada com uma câmera escondida, a cidade dividida de Berlim tem uma atmosfera estranha e irreal, como se estivéssemos em Hong Kong ou Cingapura. Você tem vontade de estar no papel de visitante de um zoológico, maravilhado com as condições sob as quais os seres vivem em um mundo completamente diferente."

taz : "A história de amor entre os jovens é extremamente agradável, discreta e inimaginavelmente evidente. Parcialmente filmado com uma câmera escondida em locações originais da DDR, Westler é uma das poucas produções alemãs que vale a pena!"

Westler (1985) // dir. Wieland Speck

[rwpohl]

[derdeutschemann]

Harry Baer is superhot in this german classic cult comedy from the 80′s: “Im Himmel ist die Hölle los”

[ozu-teapot]

Katzelmacher | Rainer Werner Fassbinder | 1969

Elga Sorbas, Harry Baer

[moviemosaics]

Katzelmacher

directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1969