Johan Lif

Without knowing much about what he was like with children, you get the feeling that Hitchcock liked and understood them – and that could direct them, unlike Bergman, who definitely could not, and that this speaks to the respective man’s character.

Surely The Killing (1956) is Stanley Kubrick’s best or at least most entertaining film? (I haven’t seen Spartacus, it looks silly.)

My friends & I argued ferociously about the merits of Blue, speciellt, to the point that it still makes me angry. I found it pretentious, but I was ca 16 and can no longer vouch for this opinion: maybe it’s actually good …

The Lady from Shanghai (Orson Welles, 1947). A lot of this is weird in an overdone, likeable way – the villains! the aquarium! the music! the very plot itself! – but what about Welles’s Irish accent?!

A childhood memory: discovering the genius of Roberta Flack through hearing the cover band between Stockholm and Helsinki play “Killing Me Softly”. I thought it was a great song then (though it may have sounded a bit more Finnish than the original); still do, of course. RIP.

Just watched: Stroszek (1977). I was sort-of prepared to go along with this until Herzog thought it a good idea to finish it up with a sped-up auction scene (”haha looks, they are hillbillies!”) and, er, dancing chickens.

I’m going to watch this (never did).

Can you give me more examples of European films like Paris, Texas that in some vaguely pretentious sense are ”about America”? Like a cinematic equivalent of Baudrillard’s America, from around the same time? Doesn’t have to be bad, but doesn’t have to be good either.

Digital Dreams (TV Movie 1983) ⭐ 5.3 | Biography, Fantasy, Music 1h 12m

Googling this – wtf?! ”Digital Dreams" is a surreal account of Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman's attempts to computerize his life's experiences in spite of his wife's …” m.imdb.com/title/tt0233...

Sorry, correct title is _Electric
Dreams_, to give it its proper name and its rightful place in the history of cinema.

I don’t know why I watched Digital Dreams (1984) but I did. It was not good. (Lennie van Dohlen would later appear as that fragile guy in the hothouse in Twin Peaks, where he was also not good, though I know TP fans who are very fond of him.)

Bands I couldn’t remember after having some kind of epileptic troubles yesterday: The Doors, Rolling Stones and Sigur Rós.

Band I had no trouble whatsoever remembering: Sparks.

Watched: Vagabond (Agnès Varda, 1985). This one was very good (despite having some occipital troubles catching up with the subtitles).

Watched recently: The Lady Eve (1941). I like Henry Fonda in general, and the film is funny, but I thought it was supposed to be more about that snake (it’s good in the animated opening titles but doesn’t really deliver)

Watched: Die Stille nach dem Schuss (Volker Schlöndorff, 2000). Good film about the RAF terrorists who were given new identities by the Stasi in the early 80s. Specifically based on the life of Inge Viet (who, unlike most of her fellow countrymen, thought live in the East was just terrific).

The Bridges of Madison County (1995). Too little in this film is about the actual bridges, thought the few shots you get of them are quite nice.

YouTube video by Un petit abreuvoir Elliott Carter - Double Concerto (1961) for harpsichord, piano and two chamber orchestras

Crazy ass piece of modernist classical music: Elliott Carter’s Double Concerto for harpsichord, piano and two chamber orchestras (1961)

Semi-incomprehensible, but surprisingly fun.

I dreamt Roger Waters needed a haircut. He was very ugly.

Now watching: Au revoir les enfants (1987). My fourth Louis Malle film, after Ascenseur pour l'échafaud, Le Feu follet and My Dinner With Andre. They have all been quite dissimilar (and all good).

Who isn’t?

Best film ever!

My Dinner with Andre - Wikipedia

It’s time for dinner! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Dinn...

I'm honoured that @essencepress.bsky.social published my "In Memory of Bob Cobbing" as a limited edition folio. The poem consists of 2 transparent sheets representing india ink "teardrops" which can be laid over any text ... order your copy today: www.juliejohnstone.com/essence-pres...

I was wrong: it is good, not boring. Not entirely, anyway. There was some genuine dynamic between Murray & Johansson: I should learn to finish watching stuff before reviewing it …

Now watching: Lost in Translation (2003). I saw half of it when it came out, but then either fell asleep or did something else, thinking it boring. In retrospect (so far), I was right – it is boring!

Watching, thanks to @awestfell.bsky.social: The Long Goodbye (Robert Altman, 1973). This film is good & really smells like old tobacco smoke!

sun in the honeyhives
combing order from time,

light on light suffuse
like liquid copper

climbing in the dark
ore heights Byzantine

-Ronald Johnson

Reading and writing with a brain tumour has become increasingly cumbersome (new MR scan results ready in two weeks or so) but I can still have coffee and read about Phil Minton in the hospital cafeteria as light pours through the windows. Which is nice.

Joan Miró (Spanish, 1893-1983)
"Gaudí XXI", 1979
Etching and aquatint in colors with collage, on Arches paper; 45 ½ x 28 in.
*
[signed in white pencil, numbered 11/50, published by Maeght, Paris]

Oh there’s David Moss on it as well, I see! The other two gentlemen I know only by name, but I’m sure they are crazy too.