Shaving Points #1
For men (mostly white guys, I guess) shaving is one of those mundane activities that is overloaded with baggage of various sorts. A few of us are able to push this particular grooming ritual to the side through the ability to grow a beard of sufficient quality that it “works” for us on some level, like Barry Stone or Gandalf. Some of us depart from clean shavenness through force of will or via some sort of cultural loophole even though it looks terrible, like Francis Ford Coppola or Wolf Blitzer. The rest of us shave our faces. I will not address goatees, van Dykes, or other facial hair configurations more elaborate than your basic sideburns or state trooper moustache which differ negligibly from full-on clean shavenness.
Don’t Plan It
Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks has it right.
Cooper: Harry, I’m gonna let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don’t plan it, don’t wait for it, just…let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men’s store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee.
Barnaby Ward
via DestroyToday
And I’ll be the first to say
Could Centaurs Masturbate?
I’ve been having fun playing with Question Party. Many of the questions are poorly worded and many of the answers are trollish or worthless, but sometimes you get something worthwhile.
Dear clusterflock,
Could centaurs masturbate?
<3
Dave
Prehistoric landing tracks
Fossil imprints of the landing tracks of a flying dinosaur called the pterosaur have been found in southwestern France.
The footprints suggest the pterosaur — a “pterodactyloid” with a wingspan roughly three feet wide (one meter) — flapped to stall its flight during landing, and then planted both its two-inch-long feet (five cm) simultaneously at a high angle.
The reptile next dragged its toes briefly, took a short “stutter step” — perhaps a hop with both feet — and landed, settling its hands. It finally adjusted its posture and ambled off normally on all fours.
from the moderated comments
I agree with Wiseman.I’ve always been fabulously ‘lucky’ my whole life,and although partly i can see that this is a ‘glass half full’ viewpoint of how i think about events and life,i also think i have been lucky as well.And i seem to have all the attitudes and actions that Wiseman lists.However on an even deeper level i have experienced that at our root of consciousness we are integrally happy,joyous,loving,peaceful and content.I have also experienced that God is giuding and controlling all events for our good.
Who knows but these times are a trying….to say the least of the most! JMHO
TO MR CHRISTOPHER WALKEN
IF THE ANGEL GABRIELE HAS NOT APPEARED TO YOU NOTING THE WAY YOU PORTRAYED HIM IN THE MOVIES THEN MOST LIKELY HE WON’T APPEAR TO ANYONE UNLESS IS THIER TIME TO GO WHICH IN THAT CASE CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY HE HASN’T MADE AN APPEARANCE TO YOU YET. LOVE THE MOVIES THOUGH.
Spalding Gray, Swimming to Cambodia
The opening sequence:
I haven’t seen the movie in a long time, but it is the movie I have seen the most. Even more than Star Wars. Looking again at this clip, the first direct interaction with the film in over ten years, I am struck by how young he looks. The movie, and he, have aged in my mind. His freshness here is wonderful. What struck me the numerous times I watched the film was his amazing ability to create a film out of nothing more than himself — a man at a table with a notebook and a glass of water. I was transfixed. Over and over and over. If you see the film, or have seen the film, I would love to talk about it.
Lies and Damned Lies
Last year a post by a dad about the lies he told his three year old sparked a lively thread on metafilter about the lies parents tell, the lies we cherish and the morality of lying to kids. The kid is now four and the dad has posted a new round of lies. I wish my parents had told me more lies like this when I was a 4.
La lengua de las mariposas
Usually called Butterfly (aka Butterfly’s Tongue) in the US. Even though these clips don’t have subtitles, I think you will get the feel.
PS: Someone seems to have placed the entire movie at Youtube, bit by bit, under the title Butterfly’s Tongue and including subtitles. But the picture quality isn’t great.
Did you see Barney Frank
in Dartmouth?
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Three You Should See
I recently combed through the Criterion Collection and plucked out my top 20 films that I felt were must-see. That list can be found here, and I will mention the top three from that list, but write a little something new for you, Deron.
Chasing Amy (1997)
The way I describe it is “Kevin Smith accidentally made a good film.” This movie just slayed me when I saw it for the first time last year. A frank exploration of how sexual experience shapes relationships, the film is witty and interesting and worth seeing, even if you despise Kevin Smith.
The Hows and Whys of Chasing Amy
Fanny and Alexander (1982)
I end up watching the six hour version of this movie about once every two years, and allow myself to be amazed all over again. The plot is so long that it’s hard to say it’s about any one thing, so it’s mostly about a family living their varied lives over the course of a few years. Bergman finally allows himself the time he needs to really explore his problems with religion, in the midst of the ultimate safety net: a large family celebrating the holidays. (What I mean by that is as a young child, you often feel the safest when you are surrounded by your entire extended family, when you can see and touch everyone you’ve ever really known who loves you.) But make no mistake, this isn’t a dry boring movie by any stretch of the imagination. It’s certainly one of the best holiday films I’ve ever seen, and has that ultimate touch of magical realism I crave in everything I see or read.
Grey Gardens (1975)
a Maysles brothers documentary about a mother and daughter, two American aristocrats who find themselves a relic of the past, wandering their enormous decaying Hamptons home while reminiscing about the past and worrying about the future. First reaction is confusion, then amusement, then horror, then you’re not sure what to think. I always end up feeling very tenderly towards Big Edie and Little Edie.
Moon
My husband and I just saw this at our local independent film house. Sam Rockwell is stunning. Kevin Spacey steals the film as GERTY, the base’s computer a la Hal-9000.
Werner Herzog, Stroszek
Bruno Stroszek is a Berlin street singer. Released from prison and warned to stop drinking, he immediately goes to a familiar bar where he comforts Eva, a prostitute down on her luck, and lets her stay with him at the apartment his landlord kept for him. They are then harried and beaten by Eva’s former pimps, who insult Bruno, pull his accordion apart and humiliate him by making him kneel on his grand piano with bells balanced on his back. Faced with the prospect of further harassment, Bruno and Eva decide to leave Germany and accompany Bruno’s eccentric elderly neighbour Scheitz, who was planning to move to Wisconsin to live with his American nephew Clayton.
Synecdoche New York
I just saw this Sunday afternoon. It’s still working on me.
Michael Haneke, Caché
The trailer makes it look like a horror film. It’s not. It’s one of the most beautifully meditative — and disturbing — films I’ve seen. A quieter counterpart to Dogville.
Shooters for Sheila and Phil
Movies we should see
It’s been a while since we got all interactive. Today I’d like three movies people should see but maybe haven’t. Links to trailers or wiki pages or director interviews — something to whet the appetite. I want stuff that will change the way we see and think. Christopher Walken is always welcome.
Ayia Pelagia (Άγια Πελαγία, Κρήτη) Crete.
More of my grubbing around in the past of Crete.
Y’all
Sometimes I forget you people are real people. The things you do are just too good to be true sometimes.
Only at the end will we realize her beauty
– Garrett
A lesson in phonetics
There is a heartburn medication called Aciphex.
Viewfinder
A distant relative of Barry Stone’s sunset photographer, perhaps.
Weekly Picture 161
Sunset Photographer, Cape Charles, VA, 8.11.2009
