Why Why

Loss.

2010-04-11T09:54:00.000-04:00

http://twitter.com/perke/status/11956236117

Photo: Tom Warren

http://twitter.com/perke/status/11942652942

http://twitter.com/perke/status/11937722514

Francis Cunningham New Video: Summer Still Life '09

2009-10-25T12:50:00.001-04:00

It's been long time since I made any videos. So, here is my return. I made a 10 minutes video about artist Francis Cunningham, whose blog I'm maintaining here, working in his summer studio on a still life. I was at his summer barn/ studio- a wonderful space- in August.
Here is about my wine with him.

It's my second project with Dick Cunningham and I hope there will be many more to come. I'm now planning to work with him, at his NYC studio every week. I already have some ideas about what we should video blog on. Here is the You Tube channel we're posting to.

Hpgrp Gallery: $10 Rioja & Adam Bateman Show Get Stars

2009-09-06T11:23:00.001-04:00

Friday night, September 4, pincponic and I headed out to the Meat Packing District to an opening reception at Hpgrp, a gallery ran by a Japanese clothing brand from Tokyo, with spaces both in New York and in Tokyo. Their shows are often but not only of Japanese artists, often corky and generally very good. This month's show, Adam Bateman drawings and sculptural installations made of hydraulic pipes and parts of farm equipment deserves a mention.

Hpgrp had something else to celebrate in addition to the great exhibition. For the first time the gallery has a store front space, a much better, more convenient space than the second floor main gallery. Like the select shops in the area, it has a giant window exposing "the goods" to lure customers inside, a great stage for the Bateman human ribcage-like sculpture, which nearly fills up the space completely. The timing could not be better, with the increased foot traffic due to the recent opening of the High Line, this part of the gallery might get the deserved attention.

Of course the wine, Rioja, Faustion VII, was the biggest winner. It made me stop by a nearby wine shop on a hunch I'd find it there and it'll be cheap. And I found the exact bottle in the wine shop in Chelsea Market, but for $9.99, which is a high price for a gallery opening wine. Online, in a NJ shop Ultimate Wine Shop NJ it now goes for $9.49.
I bought the wine and it went very well with pizza.
Here are the cellar notes of which I prefer the Wine Spectator's "Smooth and supple, this red delivers plum, leaf, light vanilla and earth flavors, with gentle acidity and modest tannins. A beam of berry fruit shines through the finish. Drink now through 2010. Score: 87. —Thomas Matthews, February 28, 2009."
I can only add that the "berry fruit shining trough the finish," if you nurse the bottle for too long feels almost like a dry-ish fruit juice. I'm not complaining though.

Adam Bateman "Greener Pastures or The Effect of Imposing a Modern Aesthetic on a Traditional Landscape"
Venue: Hpgrp Gallery
Schedule: From 2009-09-04 To 2009-10-02
Address: 32-36 Little West 12th St., 2 Fl., New York, NY 10011
Phone: 212-727-2491 Fax: 212-727-7030

Verona Wine and Japanese Art Historian

2009-09-03T09:47:00.005-04:00

Last week an art historian from Japan, Yusuke Kawase, having finished his 6-years long stay in NY, where he was studying Spanish and Italian history of painting at NYU was doing his final round of farewell parties. I had met him at least twice, and the second time we met, we decided to have a meal together. Pincponic caught up with Yusuke on Facebook just in time. We invited him for our Polish Kielbasa risotto. Not a joke- it was to be a fusion evening. Kielbasa risotto is only as novel of combination as a Japanese man studying 17th century Spanish painter working in Northern Italy, in New York. Both rare, both interesting. So, now the wine. The white wine we cooked with is unmentionable, but drinkable, and Californian. As soon as we were ready for the risotto we poured the Vaona Odino Valpolicella Classico 2008(very good deal there) brought by Yusuke. Vaona is a village in Valpolicella region near Verona. The wine was great. Just the way we like it, light and acidic and moderately fruity.
Yusuke has just arrived in Japan today. Good luck to him on a new adventure.
We hope to meet Yusuke in Japan when we visit, where he's gotten a position at Nagasaki Perfectural Art Museum, with a large Spanish art collection, from where he'll also be working on his dissertation "Jusepe de Ribera's Workshop Practice in Naples (1616–1652)."

Rex Goliath. Wine and Art-ist.

2009-08-29T12:54:00.007-04:00

Recently I spent a weekend at Francis Cunningham's summer residence, wooden barn(I forgot myself that those are made of wood, therefore a stress on wooden.) turn to a great summer house and studio, in western Mass and of course had some wine with him.

Here is one of our meals: corn and sandwiches lunch. Pincponic and I were introduced to the famous Sheffield corn with which we had a bottle of wine, our Saturday lunch before returning to NY.

Light and earthy!
I was a great find for just under $10 and here is one source with equally good deal here.

UPDATE: Of course Dick showed us how to cook the corn.

My Birthday Drink. 100% Tinto Fino.

2009-08-13T18:25:00.006-04:00

On my birthday I framed a work of art and hung it on my wall, went to the Frick Collection for the first time, immensely enjoying the trip, and at the end of the day drank delicious, moderately dry and acidic Spanish wine .

They say: "Made from low-yielding vines grown within a large nature preserve owned by the Arzuaga family in Western Ribera del Duero. 100% Tinto Fino, this wine is deep and rich but with ripe, supple tannins. Lush texture and a complex assortment of black cherry, currants and mineral-coated dark chocolate. This terrific value sings for some richly spiced Spanish cuisine. A fantastic buy for the money and a taste of the Ribera del Duero at its best."

Why do I like midtown gallery openings? Gering & López Gallery.

2009-08-07T09:57:00.004-04:00

The reasons to go to midtown galleries are many and among them better wine often accompanied by snacks and yes more relaxed atmosphere, because of less human traffic. And when it rains, you're still covered when moving between galleries, as most of them, dozens, are in two main buildings.
Here is a set of wines at an opening on 57th Street in June, a summer season starter, I'd call it. There were also good chocolates and cheese and what not, in addition to these wines.

I had a taste of the bubbly, Cristalino, which was decent tasting and under $5. And the red was excellent too, according to my companion that evening. La Motte I found online is 2006, while the one served at the gallery was 2003. The price of 2006 is stillunder $10. I bet the 2003 was half the price.
My best to the gallery assistant or whoever found the deals.

Note the neat, geometric, abstract and massive art on the walls and and actual wine glass in the gentelman's hand.

I believe this was the show Michael Scott "and then he tried to swallow the world"
Venue: Gering & López Gallery
Schedule: From 2009-06-18 To 2009-08-21
Address: 730 5th Ave., New York, NY 10019
Phone: 646-336-7183 Fax: 646-336-7185

I'm on Twitter, but...

2009-05-29T18:49:00.003-04:00

am getting nostalgic about my blog. Follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/perke for more frequent news.

A few things that have changed, or not?

6) Been doing NYAB day and night or nearly.
8) Been missing watching films in the movies.
3) Been drinking better coffee, mainly Kenyan.

7) No swimming. Perke?
9) Am now an artist/photographer's assistant.
4) Been drinking less wine. Will make it up to myself soon.

23) Was in JP recently and the slidshows are a proof

Watch in order:
Show1
Show2
Show3
Show4

About Good Blogging

2008-08-20T11:39:00.009-04:00

While my next "art wine" post in the making - I had almost finished it, but abandoned too soon - I'm posting ironically about good blogging. The entry about what makes a good blog at 43 Folders triggered all of this.
Perhaps the most important point of the blog entry for me is the need to obsess about your blog topic. Duh! But I'm less obsessed about the topics than where they come from. And of course, I have a blog or two, which I constantly look forward to reading, sometimes check more than needed- just in case the google reader has not picked up the new post!
Here they are. One is from Japan in French (I do spend more time on it because of "the French", albeit with pleasure) with always great images. It has to do with memory and photography, but not exclusively. Another is a big one in English from Berlin and does lots of music, art and Japan. Yet another is from Poland and Japan in Polish, by a Japanese person.
One of my American friends just recently started a blog about cooking, from Bulgaria. And I like it enough that after a few post I blog stalk, to keep her writing, with my frequent comments. And not to forget a friend's Spanish language blog from NY, often covering Japan related topics, a tough read with my rudimentary Spanish.

I have to stop here, as they keep coming to me.

So, if there is "a lesson" for me from this current post is that my blog obsession/ potential theme for a blog is in the people blogging from unusual for them places and in displaced geographically and thematically languages.

Carta Vieja at Yoshi Milo - Photography of Asako Narahashi

2008-07-20T16:52:00.009-04:00

One of the most recent exhibition openings where I quite enjoyed a "plastic of wine" was Asako Narahashi's "Half Awake and Half Asleep in the Water" at Yoshi Milo.
The wine was white and I'm certain it was Carta Vieja. What I'm not certain about is the grape and "vintage." It's rather unlikely that it was Chardonnay, as I have no memory of it having the distinct sweeter taste. On a hot day, as it was, I'd have remembered. Since I did not take a photo of the bottle, I'm guessing from the labels that I went through to write this, it was Carta Vieja Sauvignon Blanc 2007.

For an "art wine," it was decent. I guess, I'd not hesitate to buy it for my tight budget risotto nights. And the price tag is under $10 for a big bottle, and just about half of that for a regular size bottle. I have not seen a bargain like it in a while.

Now, the exhibition itself. I loved the photos, the blurry cityscapes taken from the point of view of a swimmer, suspenseful, not unlike "The Jaws." One technical comment that just wants to get out is why have I seen so many photography show featuring large scale digital prints so obviously grainy? I love grainy photos, but only when there is a good reason for them. I do not see one in this exhibition.

Still, the images are quite exceptional.

Gallerinas

2008-06-14T18:46:00.003-04:00

A bit late. Perhaps a story already forgotten. Should I sympathize? I don't.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/fashion/30gallerinas.html
BTW, gallerinas do seem more involved with the visitors these days...

June 5, 2008 in Chelsea with some Bordeaux Wine

2008-06-07T08:45:00.006-04:00

It was a quiet Thursday evening in Chelsea, with most gallerists out of the city doing business at Art Basel. But, there were still quite a few gallery shows starting in Chelsea and on the L.E.S. . The plan had been to make it to both areas. I started at the NW corner of Chelsea with

"Sexy Time: A Group Effort" Exhibition
Venue: Morgan Lehman Gallery
Schedule: From 2008-06-05 To 2008-08-01
Address: 317 10th Ave., New York, NY 10001

Then I moved to

Julian Montague "To Know The Spiders" Exhibition
Venue: Black and White (Chelsea)
Schedule: From 2008-06-05 To 2008-07-12
Address: 636 W 28th St., New York, NY 10001

and

Angela Fraleigh "and i would shine in answer being without becoming"
Venue: P.P.O.W.
Schedule: From 2008-06-05 To 2008-07-03
Address: 555 W 25th St., 2 Fl., New York, NY 10001

Then another stop at China Square
and

George Maciunas "Prefabricated Building System"
Venue: Maya Stendhal Gallery
Schedule: From 2008-06-05 To 2008-08-23
Opening Reception: June 5, 6-9pm
Address: 545 W 20th St., New York, NY 10011

All left me tired and with no time for the L.E.S shows.

Another reason not to run out of the Maya Stendhal were the tasty wines served.
Sceptically, I first asked for the white Bordeaux, which turned out to be very good.
Chateau Coucheroy, Pessac Leognan, Graves, 2005
I walked around the main installation of the George Maciunas' utopian house.

Then I asked for the red.
Christian Moueix, St.-Emilion, 2005
Just another few more minutes in the space and a few pictures of the guest, among others, the legendary Jonas Mekas.

I was done for the day.

NY Art Beat and What I've Been Doing/Watching

2008-06-06T18:02:00.006-04:00

What I've been doing for the last few months, full time, has been growing out my hair(is that equivalent to not cropping it?), wearing mostly orange clothes(honestly, I just keep getting them from friends), swimming just a little, watching movies less frequently than I could have and YES putting together NY Art Beat. http://nyartbeat.com

And, I'm only saying it now, even though I had managed to add MyNYAB favorites to the top of this page? Well, that's how busy I thought I was...

The most comprehensive art and design art calendar in New York is now here.
So, make your MyNYAB account and comment, browse, bookmark, comment and most importantly make your profile public then browse and comment, browse, comment... . I'm perke, as always. Why not?!

Few Things I Need, which YOU might be getting rid of

2008-05-04T11:10:00.002-04:00

-projector or a small tv or yet something else i could watch DVDs and YouTube videos on(would pay a reasonable fee for something small)
-small table(narrow) that opens up to something slightly bigger. needs to be light and small coz of my hong-kong-size dwelling and it's location(5th floor walk-up)
-bicycle(well beat-up is perfect for the NYC reality- "lost" about 3 bikes here already)

I might be able to give a DVD player in exchange for one of the above.

Watching: Francis Bacon - Documentary part 1/6

2008-05-04T11:08:00.000-04:00

Museum Statistics Mental Note

2008-03-04T10:48:00.004-05:00

Few weeks ago, randomly ending up in the Berlin-New York Dialogues exhibition at the Center for Architecture|New York, I was surprised to learn that there as many as 1900 museums in NYC(I'm pretty sure it was city not state). I think the numbers are not quite there, considering that the Museum Association of New York claims that this number refers to the whole state. But still, it's close enough, since most of these institutions must be in NYC.

"· There are approximately 1,900 museums, heritage organizations, and state and national historic sites in New York State. The overwhelming majority of these institutions are chartered by the New York State Education Department.

· In addition, there are another 1,600 institutions holding archival collections.

· Most are small museums situated outside of large urban centers.

· All 62 counties have at least one museum or heritage organization.

· There is one museum for every 10,134 New Yorkers.[1]"

Flickr Stalking Woody Allen

2008-03-03T19:46:00.002-05:00

1. helenemoors favorites my photo of Woody Allen on flicker.

2. I go to check out their profile.
3. I find that they have not photos of their own.
4. I go to their favorites and find all of them are related to Woody Allen
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11104492@N07/favorites/
see it as a slideshow
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11104492@N07/favorites/show/

Luc Tuymans

2008-02-19T09:29:00.003-05:00

James Kalm makes it to the opening of the Luc Tuymans exhibition at David Zwirner.
Musted have missed him by a few mins.

My favorite comment:"A lot of people speaking with Swiss boarding school accents here..."

Graffiti from Milan

2008-02-04T10:13:00.001-05:00

D (103), originally uploaded by Aneyeon.

This flickr user evidently likes graffiti and surveillance style photography.

Digging up a video on 75th Anniversary of the Armory Show

2008-02-04T10:02:00.000-05:00

Video via Bureaux Petite Mort

No Photo Rule in Some Chelsea Galleries

2008-02-04T08:56:00.000-05:00

But, James Kalm has plan A and when it does not work plan B and ...C... Why this rule though?

First Black Enka Singer- Jero

2008-02-02T01:16:00.000-05:00

Reflections on Contemporary Art in Tokyo

2008-01-27T08:53:00.000-05:00

Tactical Museum post about the group Ongoing and their new artist space in Tokyo, briefly analyzing the state of contemporary art in the city.
Art Center Ongoing Opens with Wada's Tasty Kebabs

ShContemporary gossip, no longer

2008-01-22T02:56:00.000-05:00

The Art Newspaper reported ShContemporary director may have to step down.

Artist Intereview: Akiyoshi Mishima

2008-01-08T05:19:00.000-05:00

What's your Hitotoki Tokyo?

2008-01-08T04:24:00.000-05:00

Mine is this.
Have been brainstorming/ working on my Hitotoki New York for a while.

Visconti looking for Tadzio

2008-01-07T09:26:00.000-05:00

Via Click Opera

Alla ricerca di Tadzio - 1
Uploaded by purevoice

Alla ricerca di Tadzio - 2
Uploaded by purevoice

Timelapse Dinner

2008-01-05T02:17:00.000-05:00

Karl is blogging again.
And here's what he advises to do with you're isight camera.
I watched the entire nothing-happens-film someone created with an isight for Vimeo and felt like I was there enjoying and not enjoying the dinner. The reason? One bottle of wine only for so much food!!!??
Cool idea nevertheless.

Degobah Timelapse from RandomEtc on Vimeo.

Making films and chopping ice

2007-12-18T03:50:00.000-05:00

Somewhere in ice covered Canada a group calling itself Disappointed People makes disappointing therefore worth checking out short films.

Is Gagosian Gallery a museum?

2007-12-17T06:03:00.000-05:00

James Kalm sneaks his camera into Chelsea's Gagosian Gallery. The gallery is confirming with its strict no camera rule that it sees itself a museum.

Fried Chicken in Japanese

2007-12-11T23:17:00.000-05:00

Japanese love fried chicken, especially KARAAGE, which they eat all year long. There is a weird tradition of eating KFC on Christmas eve, the only day of the year when KFCs seems to have lines of people waiting for buckets full of fried chicken to take to dinners with friends.
Karaage does not seem like a difficult thing to prepare, at least as of Lisa on her intro to Japan language and culture, recently not very frequent, video blog.

I had watched this particular entry before, but rediscovered it via Tokyo Mango.

Asset hedge in art

2007-12-11T22:55:00.000-05:00

Momus, at click opera, muses about asset-hedging in art.

New New Museum and Jonas Mekas by James Kalm

2007-12-07T01:53:00.000-05:00

James Kalm is an art critic and artist writing for the Brooklyn Rail. He has a Youtube channel where he post video reports from NY art events, with never boring narration. He makes sure to point out anyone important to the New York contemporary art scene, who enters his frame. He was at the New Museum on the opening dayjust a few days ago looking around and chatting up visitors.

Here is an older video, taken at a party, where he briefly talks to/ beautifully stalks Jonas Mekas, who manages to escape the videographer's claws by taking his business to the drink table.

Write a Haiku about Tokyo

2007-12-03T02:37:00.000-05:00

If you've are going to be in Tokyo in the next month or two, but you don't have to, consider writing a haiku about the city and entering it to a small contest on Tokyo Art Beat. The prize is small, but it's fun to try to write a tiny haiku picture about the city.
Here.

Dan Flavin in Akiba
Art bubble burst

Jon Stewart fix

2007-12-02T23:05:00.001-05:00

While everyone is on strike, some might enjoyJon Stewart stand-up nearly 11 years ago.
via onegoodmove

More about YouTube honors

2007-11-27T03:24:00.000-05:00

We're down to one honor(#72 - Top Rated (This Week) - People & Blogs - Japan) from this:
#16 - Top Rated (Today) - People & Blogs - Japan
#66 - Top Rated (This Week) - People & Blogs - Japan
#14 - Top Favorites (Today) - People & Blogs - Japan

Keep watching, rate and add to your favorites.

Take it back

2007-11-25T19:04:00.000-05:00

Did I once say I did not care for Tom Waits? I take it back.

T: Hey Jake, it's a full moon
J: Oh, no. Every time there is a full moon, he sings all night long. Teressa close the window, he's A driving me crazy!
T: Okay.

Sake Tasting on Wine Library TV - Episode #355

2007-11-23T01:31:00.001-05:00

Sake Tasting on Wine Library TV - Episode #355

November 21, 2007

As always Gary has some troubles pronouncing the names of the alcohols he's reviewing(be it Japanese here or French anywhere else), but he's always entertaining and I like his descriptions of flavors and tastes.
For Japanese Gary, just read it the way you'd read Russian. French, you'd need some more training.

Video Interview from Shanghai for Tokyo Art Beat

2007-11-21T00:57:00.000-05:00

Got entangle in working on other things and only managed to finish this interview with ShContemporary director, Lorenzo Rudolf, for TABlog now. Thanks to artfacts.net for pitching the idea. Check out, my first youtube honors. As of now, after not even a day of the video being online:
#16 - Top Rated (Today) - People & Blogs - Japan
#66 - Top Rated (This Week) - People & Blogs - Japan
#14 - Top Favorites (Today) - People & Blogs - Japan

Museums Solicit Dealers’ Largess

2007-11-20T03:40:00.000-05:00

How some American Museums overdoing it-- accepting money from big shot galleries to run shows of artist represented by those galleries.
Museums Solicit Dealers’ Largess

being George W. Bush’s campain press core

2007-11-20T02:58:00.000-05:00

via insane films
part 1
UPDATE:
part 2

2007-11-15T01:36:00.000-05:00

As much as I don't care for Rock, T-Love rocks. One of my favorites on video, which I only appreciate now:

Nostalgia for Warsaw? Perhaps, as it was once in Muniek's case.

11.13.07

2007-11-13T01:06:00.001-05:00

11.13.07, originally uploaded by perke.

"1.you'd think from the picture there're only men at this event.
2. no.
3. loud music gets people closer together.
4. and i still dont carry any earplugs!
go make sense of it"
The main subject of the photo, Christophe liked my take on the scene. Since Jean Snow will probably not pick this up, here I'm blogging about TAB's Christophe.

11.12.07

2007-11-12T08:51:00.001-05:00

11.12.07, originally uploaded by perke.

no, i did not do anything to my hair, it's naturally curly when it grows. it will straighten out if i let it go on, or will itl?

Columbia U. students on hunger strike

2007-11-10T00:23:00.000-05:00

"... We strike because we have inherited a world in which racist, gendered, and sexualized hierarchies dominate the way power flows. We strike because the administration consistently resists implementing structural changes that will allow us to challenge these hierarchies. ..."from cu-strike

Sotheby's Shares' Price Fall

2007-11-09T23:47:00.000-05:00

Modern and Contemporary art news. Read in the following order.
1. from The Economist
2. from Crain's
3. from Sotheby's

Making Sake Video

2007-11-05T03:23:00.000-05:00

(Via UrbanSake)

video here

11.3.07

2007-11-04T01:58:00.000-04:00

11.3.07, originally uploaded by perke.

dolce shop at kudanshita. stopping there on saturday, we get double expressos and watch the 1996 NBA championship game for a few minutes. the game looks great in a big screen. we leave at half time. We are still in 1996.

Note to myself: Procrastination

2007-10-29T21:27:00.000-04:00

Here is a series of podcast by a Canadian academic on procrastination. Seems pretty useful to me, as much as the blog I
found it on-- Academic Productivity blog.

dalida vs. rafaella carra

2007-10-11T09:53:00.000-04:00

dalida

rafaella carra

Andrzej Jakimowski

2007-10-10T23:53:00.000-04:00

Krzysztof and Andrzej are two of the more popular names in Polish. They also happen to be common among Polish film directors. Krzysztof Kieslowski, Krzysztof Zanussi, Andrzej Wajda, Andrzej Zulawski, Krzysztof Krauze are known internationally and are some of my favorite filmmakers. Now there is also Andrzej Jakubowski who, this year, was recognized for his second film TRICKS(first was SQUINT YOUR EYES).
Here is a short video interview with him in Venice.
His new film TRICKS will be shown in the competition section of the Tokyo International Film Festival. Hope he's going to be here.

Video for Firefox Japan

2007-10-09T03:44:00.000-04:00

My recent video for http://getfirefox.jp/video/

Main Credits for/: go to/:

Writing: Ken-Ichi Shinjo
Production: Eiko Nagase
Music and Sound: Chris Palmieri

Starring: 6 Tokyo co-lab residents

Sake Tasting #1 Tokyo

2007-10-03T19:26:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Eiko(oh those delicious lemon tarts), Chris and Olivier we had a wonderful space for about 20 people to meet at and plenty of tasty food to eat.
For the tasting we bought several bottles from one region's producer(SHIMEHARUITSURU from Niigata), plus some back up options from another producer(Hakkaisan) and an inside joke of a drink from another region(never disappointing OTOKOYAMA from Hokkaido). The store we shopped in had a nice selection of sakes, but we were unable to buy all of types that are commonly known.

The ones we did not taste were the most refined--highly polished rice sakes-- the DAIGINJO and JUNMAI DAIGINJO-- as they were not available and are usually quite pricey. I guess, that should be our next tasting.

Here is the run down of lables and the order we had them in:

Region: Hokkaido 北海道

OTOKOYAMA　男山:
(back up) JOSEN HON JOZO　上撰本釀造 (1.8l) 1808yen

Region: Niigata 新潟

HAKKAISAN　八海山:
(#5)JUNMAI-GINJOU 純米吟釀(720ml) 1788yen

SHIMEHARITSURU　〆張鶴:
(#1)HONJOZOU　本醸造 (720ml) 835yen
(#2)TOKUBETSU HONJOU　特別本醸造　 (720ml) 1010yen
(#4)JUNMAI- GINJOU 純米吟釀(720ml) 1440yen
(#3)TOKUSEN-GINJOU 特撰吟釀(720ml) 1250yen
(#6)GINSEN-GINJOU 吟撰吟釀(720ml)1690yen

GOROHACHI 五郎八:
(SWEET) NIGORI-ZAKE　にごり酒(720ml) 867yen

sweeping news

2007-09-12T01:08:00.000-04:00

here is video by me about hot to clean a japanese style carpet, on a summer afternoon, inspired by the news.

how to bow

2007-09-11T23:29:00.000-04:00

recently i've been sent this instructional cartoon on japanese tradion from a friend in germany. it's so objective and serious to the point of being funny. on top of that it's supposed to be funny. i think japanese have a good laugh out of it too.
to see the whole thing, you have to pay, but it's probably not worth it that much.

poem remix

2007-09-11T03:44:00.000-04:00

i still like it even if i did not see the whole thing

birthday continues

2007-08-30T00:50:00.000-04:00

The other day I celebrated my birthday for like the 4th time this month and this time with two other people, who were born about the same time of the year. Here is a great photo by Karl of some of our friends photographing the three of us at a bar called Rodriguez after our okonomiyaki and sparkling wine party at another place.

digging holes in coney island video

2007-08-21T01:22:00.000-04:00

via cool hunting
gelitin dig holes video

Tie your own obi

2007-08-18T22:52:00.000-04:00

for her

for him

French filmmakers on Salo

2007-08-15T09:59:00.000-04:00

Enfants de Salo
Uploaded by laingui

Video interview with Izumi Kato

2007-08-14T06:30:00.000-04:00

recorded in Venice:

perke in the city

2007-08-14T06:17:00.000-04:00

Cicadas in Chiyoda-ku

2007-08-13T10:38:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I recorded the typical Kudanshita sounds around this time of the year, produced by cicadas. Pity I cannot upload them here. The sounds that cicadas make may be very disturbing at times, but they can be relaxing too. Here is a calming sample from somewhere in Japan.
You can easily find yourself listening to these sounds in Tokyo:

...feeling each other up...

2007-07-26T11:45:00.000-04:00

summer birthdays

2007-07-25T04:57:00.000-04:00

I normally do not attend too many birthdays or celebrate mine. But, recently I've attended four in a row and more are coming, including mine. The irony is that I don't even know two of the people very well. Here are the picnic/dinner/welcome party-birthday portraits.

Four Eyed Monsters

2007-07-20T00:16:00.000-04:00

I'm in the middle of watching Four Eyed Monsters, as I'm posting this. Details about the filmmakers are all on their YouTube channel. The film turns out to be totally different, way better from what I had expected. It's only going to be up on YouTube, in its entirety till mid-August.

Back to see another few minutes of it.

Tsai Ming-Liang

2007-07-13T02:31:00.000-04:00

la jetee in tokyo

2007-07-11T23:11:00.000-04:00

Update: now with a Polish translation(z tlumaczeniem polskim)

There is a micro bar called 'Jete' in Tokyo's Golden Street, the street famous for the micro bars. Not long ago, I went there with a few people for a late night drink. Over shochu, we continued talking until 4.30am, keeping the bar owner/ bartender/ hostess up and away from watching movies. 'Jete' comes from the title of the Chris Marker film, La Jetee and like the owner/hostess/bartender's head it's filled with the cinema history.
slide show here

Po Polsku(nie wiem jeszcze dla kogo)
Jest w Tokio na ulicy Golden Gai mikro-bar zwany 'Jete.' Niedawno wybralam sie tam z kilkoma znajomymi na, jak to mowia, drinka. Popijajac shochu, rozmawialismy do 4.30rano, w ten sposob wstrzymujac pania wlascicielke/barmanke od jej ulubionej czynnosci, ogloadania filmow. 'Jete' pochodzi od tytulu filmu Chrisa Markera, La Jetee, i tak jak glowa pani wlascicielki, jest wypelnione historia i wpomnieniami filmowymi.

Wagashi

2007-07-11T07:21:00.000-04:00

If your idea of good sweets is not only cream, chocolate or truffles but also the delicate made of rice and sweet potato or beans Japanese sweets, Pingmag has a picture filled story on the summer wagashi. A piece of wagashi sometimes sounds like a joke of a portion, but its daintiness is its beauty. Perhaps looking and not trying it at all is ideal.
On the weekend I ate lunch in a traditional sweets store somewhere in Nakameguro. The store's second floor window gives on a river and green by now cherry trees. The lunch box was boiled fish and veggies and best ever pickled veggies, plus some miso soup. It was simple, small and delicious, and not too pricey. At the end of the meal we were presented with a tray of small familiar looking sweet, just a little less elaborate then the ones in the Ping article. After just one little piece, leaving the shop, one is tempted downstairs to buy more of the beautiful sweets to take home.

Po polsku:
Jesli myslac o slodyczach przychodzi Ci to glowy nietylko smietana, czekolada i trufle, ale rowniez delikatne, zrobione z ryzu, slodkich kartofli i roznych fasolek WAGASHI, Pingmag ma artykul na ten temat, wypelniony zdieciami. Jedna sztuka wagashi wydaje sie praktycznie zartem dla niektorych z nas, ale to wlasnie taka rozmiarowa delikatnosc jest piekna. Moze tylko patrzec i nie probowac wcale, byloby szczytem wytrzymalosci-- idealem.
W Niedziele wczesnym popoludniem zjadlam maly obiad w tradycyjnej ciastkarni w Nakameguro. Dwupietrowy sklep, siedzac i jedzac an pierwszym pietrze mozna sobie popatrzec przez okno na mala rzeczke i zielone w tym sezonie dzrzewa czeresni. Na obiad gotowana ryba, warzywa is wpaniale kiszone warzywa oraz miso zupa. Prosty, maly i smaczny posilek nie rozbil nam banku. Po zjedzeniu podane zostaly do wyboru wagashi, ktore wygladaly znajomo, ale byly prostrze niz te z artykulu Pinga. Wychodzac z ciastkarni, po jednym tylko wagashi, piekne wagashi kusza swym urokiem na parterze sprzedawane an wynos. No i mozna je tam tez zakupic do zabrania do domu.

pink and green

2007-07-09T08:36:00.000-04:00

as always, more at perke on flickr

Younghee Jung on mobile technology--video

2007-07-09T01:15:00.000-04:00

May 2007, New Yorker Conference, Younghee Jung introduces and analyzes how people, especially in Asia, use mobile phones. There are many products cooler than the mighty iphone-- which is not that mighty after all with an incompatible service provider-- and plenty info about Japanese uses of mobile technology.

Here is my phone,

to be changed later this year...maybe

New TAB t-shirts. Season 3.

2007-07-07T04:36:00.000-04:00

The new TAB t-shirts store has been launched and I'm eyeing one design especially, of course in wine color:

Note, the designer is a woman.
The shirts are selling quick this summer, despite it being quite rainy all over the world, or so it feels after my visit to Europe and now at the end of the rainy season in Tokyo.

My Personal TAB badge

2007-07-05T02:57:00.000-04:00

Tokyo Art Beat has just relaunched with a new fresh look and several new features, most of all the new TABlog. Now that I'm in Tokyo, I'm excited to go back to one of the oldest TAB features, the personalized bookmarking page and badge to show off on my blog. So here, the exhibits I've been seeing or planning to see.

Sicko

2007-07-03T04:23:00.000-04:00

Watch Michael Moore's Sicko at Insane Films. part 1 part 2

and, one of my latest photos...

youtube doubler

2007-07-02T06:42:00.000-04:00


YouTube Doubler

one of my own videos and a saved video made by someone else doubled using the youtube doubler

Update: this was originally posted on 7/17/07, but since the videos start playing automatically when on the top page, I post dated the entry to get it of off the top page.

Graffiti in NY, 1983 documentary

2007-06-03T22:36:00.000-04:00

70 min long documentary about 1970/1980s graffiti writers in NY

found via graffiti tv

Japan blogs and architecture. Prouve in NY.

2007-05-26T12:10:00.000-04:00

The English language blogs on Japan have narrow focus, generally discuss art, design, architecture and music. I think it is a general tendency, not just my personal preference. So, thanks to my daily staple of Japan blogs I'm well aware of what's going on in those limited areas, with the exception of music. Those specific entries I either quickly skim or skip. Most recently the Japan bloggers(Jean Snow, Momus, TABlog) have been raving about architecture just a little bit more then usually. Tokyo Midtown has just opened. Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery has a show on architect Terunobu Fujimori. Kisho Kurokawa's designed the National Art Center, Tokyo, and it has just opened, while his Nakagin Capsule Tower be getting demolished soon. And there is finally Le Corbusier show.

I think because this intensified recent blog ramblings on the topic, I started borrowing DVD on architecture. One of the DVD I have at home this weeks contains a video about the Jean Prouve House. Coincidentally, a Prouve designed, prefabricated building,Tropical House, is on display in Queens for Christies pre-auction viewing. I took the opportunity and went to see the structure. To get to my destination I had to take a not an unpleasant walk through a very industrial, deserted of people area of Queens, LIC. Of course the idea was probably to make people drive their BMWs there, but I left my imaginary luxury car in Brooklyn. The day was quite hot and the temporary location of the house, on the East River made the experience near tropical.

Host Bars in Osaka

2007-05-24T13:26:00.000-04:00

I once met a female art student in New York, who told me that she had worked at a Japanese piano bar in Midtown. I had never heard about Japanese piano bars, and soon enough it turned out that it was just a more respectable name for the plain, old hostess club. I understand those place here, probably ran by Japanese, must catering to the Japanese men on business in New York. From my friend's description, that hostess bar in New York was not tied to the sex trade, as I had imagined and as many actually are in Japan.

One of my first sources of information about Shinjuku sex trade and host(ess) bars, perhaps not to be trusted too much, was Ryu Murakami's novel In the Miso Soup. I loved the surreal story and found it a good intro to Tokyo's entertainment district of Shinjuku.

A few days ago I was really happy to find another take on the shady clubs, a documentary video, now on Google Video,
The Great Happiness Space. This documentary by a foreigner in Japan illuminates not only the main subject-- the inner workings of the host bars-- but also the hostess bars, a much bigger industry higher on the food chain and generously feeding the host bars. The girls that the host bars cater too are mostly employees of hostess bar.

Two English films I did not manage to finish

2007-05-24T12:35:00.000-04:00

Bright Young Things dir. Stephen Fry and Prick Up Your Ears dir. Stephen Frears are two English films I only quarter- watched last week. After a series of westerns, the jabbering of those two did not hold my attention long enough. One more proof that the English cinema does not agree with me. But in defense of the British productions, I could not finish re-watching a film by Hou Hsiao Hsien entitled Goodbye South Goodbye, as much as I like this Taiwanese director. A scene after which I stopped watching is one of my favorite. It is the one in which the bunch of thugs that the film is about gathers to drink tea. Normally overdoing on alcohol and soda, they exchange thoughts about the sensational and expensive tea they are able to taste. The scene ends with an internal fight, when one of the friends refuses to appreciate the delicacy, and continues demanding a beer.

I also watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid dir.George Roy Hill, continuing my exploration in the western genre. I loved Paul Newman as Cassidy, but altogether the film was too stylized with too much music. The love triangle between the bank robbers also reminded me of Jim et Jule. I wonder if it's an obvious connection to make, considering that cinema is often about such love triangles. Best line of the film comes from Butch Cassidy who visits a bank he's planning to rob and recalls the old interior of the bank to its guard. BC:"What happened to the old bank, it was so beautiful." G:"It kept getting robbed." BC:"It's a small price to pay for beauty." So there, I finally saw the film which gave the Sundance Film Festival its title.

baloons

2007-05-22T14:48:00.000-04:00

Almost forgot. I've been collecting these for a few weeks all over NY. Happy 92nd Birthday, K!

sam bee: news i'd like to f@#k

2007-05-17T14:28:00.000-04:00

Some more crap from MySpace

2007-05-15T22:31:00.000-04:00

INTERESTS:
origami, shimanity, second life, swimming...talking about movies between laps, learning new words and/or their meaning from myspace friends: eg. Cleveland steamer,angry dragon, snowball, rusty trombone, houdini, hot karl, hot lunch, strawberry shortcake ,teabag ,alabama hot pocket, cincinatti bowtie, and the dutch oven, penis, nuts, tescticles, dirty sanches, brown eye, butthole pleasures, donkey punch, fag, pinching your helmet, itchy nuts, duct tape, Harry Potter, box, porn, playing Doctor, rope, fisting, scat, romanshower, waterworks, goldenshower, puke, carpetmunching, cunt, bitch, cheekey monkey, cheeks, work, labas, gerai, emma, beautiful, the best, girl, in the whole world, obese lithuanian women; riding the 6 train pantless

HEROS:
my imaginary French grandma and Japanese grandpa

Moving out of MySpace March-May 2007

2007-05-15T22:21:00.000-04:00

Subject: I'll soon be committing MySpacecide
Posted Date: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 9:55 AM

Talk to me to find out where I'll move my former, to be, MySpace activity. I'm going to be blogging more and I'm hoping that you'll follow and comment. So, if you're not using an RSS feed reader, get yourself Bloglines or whatever other reader you like/need to get updates. I'm on Blogger. Go ahead ask me for the URL. I'll be coming back as another incarnation on MySpace and probably Facebook for purely business purposes.

Subject: 6min of tokyo trains and food
Posted Date: Monday, April 02, 2007 - 10:21 AM

Subject: my european nationality, a quiz
Posted Date: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 - 1:44 PM

You scored as Russian.

Russian

88%

Belgian

75%

Molvanian

63%

German

63%

Irish

63%

Danish

50%

Italian

50%

French

38%

Swiss

38%

Polish

38%

Dutch

38%

British

25%

Spanish

25%

Turkish

25%

Which European nationality should you have
created with QuizFarm.com

Subject: Anyone Twitters already?
Posted Date: Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 1:18 PM

Wanna Twitter?

Subject dance samba mit mir w/anna thompson and bernard giraudeau
Posted Date: Saturday, March 24, 2007 - 11:20 AM

Gouttes d.. par dairygalpal

to compare with Raffaella Cara's remix

but here is the proper Liebelei by Raffaella Carra

Moving out of MySpace: February 2007

2007-05-15T22:17:00.000-04:00

Subject: Sleepy McDonald's in Tokyo--Video
Posted Date: Friday, February 16, 2007 - 3:41 AM

Subject: perke vs perka
Posted Date: Sunday, February 25, 2007 - 12:36 PM

Here is how the Urban Dictionary defines perka, not to be confused with perke. (i'm guessing perka is pronouced pehrkAh, as opposed to pehrkEh)

Subject: self-portrait
Posted Date: Sunday, February 25, 2007 - 12:28 PM

Subject: net neutrality documentary
Posted Date: Friday, February 23, 2007 - 11:34 PM

Save the Internet | Rock the Vote
[Edit] [Delete] [View Comments]
Subject Tokyo cityscape
Posted Date: Friday, February 23, 2007 - 1:42 PM

Subject: Tokyo city scroll
Posted Date: Friday, February 23, 2007 - 1:45 PM

Moving out of MySpace: January 2007

2007-05-15T22:10:00.000-04:00

Subject: Cell phone novels
Posted Date: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 - 11:06 PM

People are using cell phones very differently in Japan. They type much faster and text a lot more and were probably first to adopt novel writing on their non-QWERTY devices. I'm not sure if the phenomenon is typically Japanese, and it seems not very latest. Fresh off Wired.

Subject: Steve Garfield's Mom's Blog
Posted Date: Tuesday, January 02, 2007 - 7:46 AM
After "I Can't Open It" comes "Millie's Yiddish Class."

http://stevegarfield.blogs.com/videoblog/2007/01/millies_yiddish.html

MySpace blog sucks(can't link to anything without looking up the HTML codes)!

Subject 365(days)series
Posted Date: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 2:21 PM
Jonas Mekas has just started vlogging for 365 days. His 365 series is part of Mekas' new website . Each episode costs about $2, unless you download it on the day of it's release. This gallery - Maya Stendhal Gallery -- seems to be involved.
Coincidentally, the same day I discovered Mekas' website, I stumbled upone an older project, which also lasted 365 days and was called 365days. It's on UbuWeb.

Subject: Vimeo and a vlog entry
Posted Date: Monday, January 08, 2007 - 5:26 PM

Vimeo is yet another video posting service, one of the smaller ones, comparing to YouTube, I guess. Looks cool but don't know how good it is. And here is a cool vlog entry from a boat.

Subject: Brice Marden on Charlie Rose
Posted Date: Thursday, January 04, 2007 - 8:29 AM

The Charlie Rose Show and prehaps the PBS have been very resistant about putting up their programs on the Web. Just up until a few days ago, I thought that I had to actually wait for the broadcast to see some of the best interviews around. Today on Google video, I found Charlie Rose's interview with Brice Marden, who's retrospective is at MoMA for only another few days.

UPDATE:
Am I the last to discover that the site has changed completly?

Subject: Richard Serra/ sculpture
Posted Date: Thursday, January 04, 2007 - 9:24 AM

What a character...

Subject: MySpace is For Losers
Posted Date: Monday, January 08, 2007 - 10:11 AM
Momus' picture illustrates it quite well.

Subject: step into perke's other blog with pretty new widgets
Posted Date: Friday, January 26, 2007 - 8:11 AM
here it is, on blogger. after all i'm perke perke. one for each perke.

Subject: Swimming Tips- suspense video
Posted Date: Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 2:54 AM

In the heydays of my lifeguarding "career", I recorded some of my friends swimming for instructional purposes for them. I finally decided to make a use of the footage, edited parts of it and ended up with this...

Subject: I made a video about a lifeguard
Posted Date: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 3:19 AM

To cope with the idea of never again getting paid for looking at people wearing bathing suits, I made a video about what kind of nightmares(?) a lifeguard taking a "power nap" could be having.

Subject: Give me some music ---Decaying Video and Photo Memories
Posted Date: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 - 4:44 AM

I could add some music to this, if anyone would offer their own sample...

Moving out of MySpace

2007-05-15T21:04:00.000-04:00

I'm committing MySpacecide, after a nearly six-month-long period of experimentation. I don't like it and I might list a few reason as I go along, but in the mean time, here is my first MySpace entries from November 12, 13, 2006.

Title: transporting kids

So, here is the photo of the day or the week, depending on how surreal the day and the week will turn out.

watching:
Subway dir. Luc Besson

Subject: Kazahana

Posted Date: Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 10:48 PM
...watching Shinji Somai's Kazahana

Recently viewd on DVD

2007-05-14T12:17:00.000-04:00

Antonietta dir. Carlos Saura
It looked like an interesting film when I saw it on the shelf and read the back of the box. But, it turned out to be a really bad quality picture, as though copied from an old VHS, and the story was not absorbing enough, as much as I'm interested in suicidal characters. I did not finish it.

Zatoichi Meets the One Armed Swordsman(22)
Zatoichi kills an amazing kung-fu master, just because they don't speak one another language and have been told about one another's deceptions. The film seems more fake than any other of 25 episodes, but it's always pleasure to see some kung-fu. Zatoichi is slowly becoming just the title character, while the other characters take the lead.

Three westerns by Sergio Leone which started a whole genre of spaghetti westerns:
A Fistful of Dollars
For a Few More Dollars
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
I guess I had dismissed Clint Eastwood as an actor a long time ago and accepted him as a director. But I must take it back. Vin Vin from Bonjour America proved a while ago that the obsession with Clint is unavoidable, once you see him in Leone's films.

The President's Last Bang dir. Im Sang-soo
Great political satire, but it's hard to laugh to it. It does have its Dr.Strangelove moments, but I hear that even Koreans don't laugh to it(for their own political reasons), so how can I, without the extra language cues. Great film though.

Recently seen on DVD and in the theater

2007-05-08T14:35:00.000-04:00

Syndromes and a Century dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, at IFC
All I Desire dir. Douglas Sirk, at BAM

My Nikifor dir. Krzysztof Krauze
It was shown at MoMA last weekend. Not a great film in itself, but a decent biopic of an artist, with a wonderful performance of Krystyna Feldman as the title character, the legendary, prolific artist--estimated 45000 drawings and paintings in more than half a century of work. Nikifor was self-thought and often considered retarded, homeless, who panhandled when not selling enough of his works.

Zatoichi Monogatari(1) This first of the series was so beautifully shot in B&W.
Shin Zatoichi Monogatari(3) Still beautifully framed and the first color film.
Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold(6)
Zatoichi's Cane Sword(15)

Tampopo dir. Juzo Itami
It sure is more fun rewatching it, after I eating more ramen in many ramen stores. The film made me think about Aida Makoto's humor about the Japanese perverse obsession with food.

Moloch
Mother and Son
Father and Son dir. Alexander Sokurov
I did not expect the Sokurov films to end up being so uniform that I'd be happy to put them into a group, even though they belong to different series. They're all minimalistic, but very painterly. Sokurov stresses his references to the Dutch painting and the German Romantics. His minimalistic and realistic approach is mixed with the poetic, luckily is not to obviously formalistic. He also differs from my idea of a realist by the way he approaches music. The minimalism of action and dialog is not matched by equally sparce score. His soundtracks are almost completely independent of the visual, works of art.

And then there was a bunch of unrelated stuff:

Thelma and Louise dir. Ridley Scott

Autumn Sonata dir. Ingmar Bergman

Paradise Now dir. Hany Abu-Assad

Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie dir. Luis Bunuel

Haircut Survey

2007-05-07T21:52:00.000-04:00

I'm thinking of getting a very short haircut again, going back to this length perhaps

so I asked some of my friends to tell me what they think about it.
Here are the answers as I remember them, or as they were emailed to me:

YES
1) can i cut it for you by the river?
2) very short hair looks good on you.
3) like Jean Seberg in À bout de souffle?
4) about time dear, and bring it to me
5) (an ambiguious yes) prison cut? you look nice--depends how you gonna feel
6) yes! and tell them that I said so

NO
1) i like it a little bit longer - the way it's been - better than the
complete crop.
2) again!? (expected answer from kf)
3) Nooch to your hair.
4) No more haircut! I want you to look like Rapunzel!
5) actually; now that I see your photo; I think that I prefer you with your long hair
(note: referring probably to a photo of my little niece who is not even blood related)
6) (i take this as a NO) I am now in Las Vegas, I have already shaved my head and got married with a dog I found in the street ;)

Update: it's a draw, so there will be no shearing, yet.

Last week's movies

2007-04-23T16:00:00.000-04:00

Cafe Lumiere dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien with best view of Tokyo ever seen in cinema
Intermezzo (1939)dir. Gregory Ratoff----but there is also the Swedish Intermezzo(1936) dir. Gustaf Molander----which allowed Ingrid Bergman to debut twice
Masques dir. Claude Chabrol
The Wind that Shakes the Barley dir. Ken Loach(big screen)
The Pervert's Guide to Cinema
dir. Sophie Fiennes with Slavoj Zizek

guess what he's thinking about?

Last week at perke film center

2007-04-13T16:52:00.000-04:00

Mifune dir. Søren Kragh-Jacobsen(Dogme 95)
The Hunger dir. Tony Scott(neo-gothic)
The Tale of Zatoichi Continues (2)aka Zoku Zatoichi Monogatari
Happy Together dir. Wong Kar-Wai
Shoot the Piano Player dir. Francois Truffaut
Slave of Love dir. Nikita Mikhalkov

Wild at Heart dir. David Lynch
Muriel dir. Alain Resnais

face transformations- my distorted past, potential future and the impossible

2007-04-11T00:35:00.000-04:00

perke transformed

using this face transformer

Take me to the movies

2007-04-08T22:35:00.000-04:00

at IFC: The Wind that Shakes the Barley dir. Ken Loach, Cobra Verde dir. Werner Hertzog, Killer of Sheep dir. Charles Burnett
MoMA: Muriel dir. Alain Resnais, Berlin Alexanderplatz dir. Rainer Fassbinder

Seen Last Week on DVD. Seen in the theater.

2007-04-08T22:09:00.000-04:00

Games of Love and Chance(L'Esquive) by Abdellatif Kechiche, referring to the play--Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard-- by Marivaux
From the Zatoichi film series:
Zatoichi and the Chess Expert(12)
Zatoichi Challenged(17)
Samaritan Zatoichi(19)
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid by Sam Peckinpah
Straw Dogs dir. Sam Peckinpah

After the Wedding by Susanne Bier

noodles and trains video

2007-04-06T12:57:00.000-04:00

After a recent visit to Tokyo, voila, my long thought about it.

DVDs and films this week. Best movies ever?

2007-03-29T18:27:00.000-04:00

I borrowed five DVDs from the library on Monday and only managed to see one, so far.
Lola Montes dir. Max Ophuls
Coincidentally, another Ophuls film was playing at Film Forum this week, and I did see it. It was The Earrings of Madame de
Many reviewers over the years have put the film as number one on their best movies ever lists. I must agree, it has all the feature of a classic, including the age, but I'm wondering if it's even better then Ophuls' next film Lola Montes. I did seem to enjoy Lola Montes a bit more.
My best movie ever, I had decided several years ago and even bought a poster, is Knife in the Water dir. Roman Polanski. As any good numero uno on the best film ever list, it's about love triangle and a prop. This prop is not a piece bijou, but a knife. If one cares, it's also taking place outdoors, on a boat, on a lake.

The four remaining DVDs I need to see before Monday are:
Junior Bonner, The Getaway, The Osterman Weekend, all(3) dir. Max Ophuls
Berlin Jerusalem dir. Amos Gitai
I've been seeing one Gitai film a week. Not an easy task. Suspecting that I'll have to watch them again to know what's going on in the most esoteric ones. Perhaps I should just read about those.

March 23, DVDs watch in the last 5 days

2007-03-23T15:39:00.000-04:00

Dangerous Liaisons dir. Stephen Frears

Bed and Board dir. Francois Truffaut. Is it common knowledge that M. Hulot makes a cameo appearance in Bed and Board? Anyway, I spotted a Hulot getting on the train in one of the scenes.

Play Time dir. Jacques Tati. Hulot is master of tripping without falling. Tati's Paris as shown in Play Time looks and feels like certain parts of today's Tokyo.

Shock Corridor dir. Samuel Fuller

Just Watched on DVD

2007-03-15T12:14:00.000-04:00

Because of You(en) Kyoko(jp) also a novel written and dir.Ryu Murakami

The Wild Bunch dir. Sam Peckinpah

Turning Gate dir. Hong Sang-soo(not a NYPL DVD)

Eroica dir. Andrzej Munk

shocking nationality quize results

2007-03-14T12:38:00.000-04:00