sovay | I'll do things to you that are beyond all known philosophies

Current Music: Yoko Absorbing, "A. Kruchenyh's Travel to the XXI-st Century"

I'll do things to you that are beyond all known philosophies

Hell. Usually I write up my trips to D.C. while waiting for various forms of public transit, but this time I was very kindly dropped off at the airport by

strange_selkie and

darthrami (and my two-year-old godchild!), made my flight with less than five minutes to spare thanks to a patdown in the course of which my boarding pass and driver's license temporarily went missing, and then dozed achily through most of the flight as well as the sitting on the tarmac while weather conditions in Boston dicked around with takeoff, with the result that I think I am too tired to finish even the low-rent, spacy Cliff's Notes version. Just imagine it's all epigrammatic and evocative. I'm going to bed.

It turned out to be a good thing I brought the flat cap to show off to Selkie, because on Friday night I got off the Metro at West Falls Church to find a brisk sharp snow glittering out of the sky and my winter hat on a banister in Lexington; I wound up wearing it for the rest of the trip. It's actually very comfortable and chimes with my scarf. Also, I can take it anywhere and it neither sheds nor tries to eat anyone else's haberdashery.

My god-daughter is tall, fair-haired and dark-eyed, and speaks in short imperative bursts of non-grammar like Animal of the Electric Mayhem; it takes her about a day to remember who I am and start spontaneously grabbing me around the knees, after which she still doesn't really want to kiss me goodnight, but on Saturday she headbutted me and tried to eat my nose, which I'm taking as mostly the same thing. I brought her a picture book and a poem about Wittgenstein, only one of which I'd written myself. She put it on top of her toy stove. He appears to be having philosophical differences with the vegetable steamer.

(I was staying with

rushthatspeaks and B., but even birthday-celebrating two-year-olds have early enough bedtimes that I was around for the ceremony on l both nights; she didn't want me to read to her, but she insisted on having me there while her mothers read. "Sit on the rocking horse," Selkie directed, seeing me casting around for somewhere to settle. I thought: Honour, riches, marriage-blessing and said nothing.)

The funny thing about Barbarella (1968) is not that it's an enjoyably culty piece of classic sci-fi camp that gave us the names of one band I love and one band I know only through pop reputation, but that whole stretches of it are effectively futuristic, alien and alternatingly eerie and delightful, with terrific art direction from which a suprising amount of worldbuilding can be convincingly extrapolated. It's the only film I've ever seen where the indescribably decadent and wicked city actually feels like it, full of matter-of-fact sexual and emotional violence, where all the children are feral and predatory until the survivors are recaptured and introduced into society and rank is based on inventiveness of cruelty. There is a labyrinth both Jim Henson and Wayne Barlowe must have seen, where the outcasts wander, studying, lamenting, kissing and caressing even as they become part of its walls. There are the creepiest dolls I have ever seen—their teeth are the crowded splinters of deep-sea fish, snapping mechanically—and a drowning man being smoked in a hookah. There is also a great sense of fun, because the film knows when it's being tongue-in-cheek and when it's being actually quite hot and when it's just dropped in from Planet WTF. (

rachelmanija, this film has parakeets of doom.) Milo O'Shea is one of the great unsung mad scientists of cinema. ("The Earth has lost its last great dictator!") Anita Pallenberg's first appearance, enigmatically rescuing Barbarella with small spinning knives and Joan Greenwood's curling velvet voice, is simply brain-melting. And Jane Fonda carries off both outfits and lines of dialogue that should never have worked, even in a future where no one ever seems to wear pants. Oh, right, and there's Marcel Marceau and very embarrassed revolutionaries and a blind angel everyone wants to sleep with. Rush had been wanting to show me this movie for a year. It was the correct way to spend Friday night.

The birthday party itself was at Silver Stars Gymnastics, where a quantity of children between the ages of one and five could bounce off, clamber over, and otherwise hurl themselves upon various brightly colored surfaces and nobody cared if I sat on a balance beam in the corner and read. (It was one of the ways I stayed awake this weekend. I haven't really slept since before Arisia.) Occasionally something very cute would run by at high Doppler volume. When they had tired themselves out, there was cake.

I could have done with more nineteenth century in the language, but I loved everything about Lev AC Rosen's All Men of Genius (2011) except its handling of the Malvolio character. Okay, never mind. This one is going to be a post.

Without exception, Pier Paolo Pasolini's Medea (1969) is the best film I have seen of a classical myth. This would also have needed to be a post, but Rush has written it up so I don't have to. It is gorgeous, violent and estranging, true to the differences of its world in ways that I had not thought anyone, even one of Derek Jarman's heroes, had filmed. It has sparagmos. It has bronze mirrors. It has Maria Callas. I remembered Medea was the granddaughter of Helios just as the sun began to speak.

I did not expect to be able to eat Thai papaya salad at nine o'clock at night and not be terribly ill, but it was a pleasant surprise. Pass the limes.

Thanks to Rami and Selkie, I have now seen "A Study in Pink" and "The Great Game" from the first series of Sherlock—I have it on their authority (and also the internet's) that "The Blind Banker" is not worth watching, unless you really like Orientalism and bad plotting. I had not so much avoided the series as not actively sought it out in part because I wasn't sure whether Steven Moffat's characterization of Holmes as "a high-functioning sociopath" would work for me. The short answer: by the end of the first episode, yes. Martin Freeman's Watson, on the other hand, I liked straight off.

Coming back through security at Baltimore, I had the world's most apologetic TSA employee; he said anxiously that the full-body scans were being done very differently now and burst into surprised laughter (which he also apologized for) when I told him I wasn't worried about getting cancer or being turned into porn, I just really didn't want to be scanned, thank you. He seemed aware that he had an awful job and was trying to be nonthreatening about it. Considering how much more awkward he seemed about arranging the patdown than I was in asking for it, I think he succeeded.

Have a photograph of me with my godchild, taken on Saturday night:

Tomorrow, work.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

That's a very sweet photograph. Thanks for sharing!

I'm glad for the flat cap, cute kid, and other good things, such as your safe return. I feel as if there's more I should say, but I'm having trouble thinking it through. I'm sorry you're exhausted, and hope you can find sleep tonight.

I did not expect to be able to eat Thai papaya salad at nine o'clock at night and not be terribly ill, but it was a pleasant surprise. Pass the limes.

I'm pleased for your pleasant surprise. I'd try to pass a lime, but they don't seem to email very well.

I'm also pleased you encountered a polite TSA employee.

I've never seen Barbarella* nor any of Sherlock. It sounds as if I should, although I'm pretty much useless at getting round to watching anything--for a week or more I've had the first episode of Dúshlán: An Saighdiúr which is an Irish-language documentary about the conflict in Afghanistan in which a friend of mine has the primary speaking role, sat on my hard drive and I've not managed to watch more than the opening.

ETA: Love the LJ-cut text!

*Parakeets of doom? I can't believe I've not yet seen a film, seven years older than myself, that would contain such a thing.

Edited 2012-01-23 07:46 (UTC)

Awww. That's a lovely picture. Welcome back.

He appears to be having philosophical differences with the vegetable steamer.

Hee!

"Sit on the rocking horse," ... I thought: Honour, riches, marriage-blessing and said nothing.

Lovely. An Easter egg.

I truly need to see Medea now.

Nine

Oh, Barbarella is a guilty pleasure of mine.

One of my favourite lines ever is: "The angel is aerodynamically sound. It's just a question of morale."

I do like that maze. And the ice-yacht. And I'm guessing Matmos is one of your favourite bands?

I still have to see more than bits of Brbarella. I do recall stumbling across an review of it, in a book of essays on design, that argued it was more genuinely futuristic than 2001.

I think I have to see Barbarella - it sounds both weirder and more fun than I had been led to believe. I also love one of the bands who got their name from it, but I'm not sure it's the same one.
I'm glad you liked Sherlock. My friend

hca brought it over when she came out to help after the car accident. She showed me the same two episodes, having the same opinion of The Blind Banker as your friends. I loved it - it turned out to be the perfect thing for the situation, since it forced me to think about something else.

I'm going to have to track down that Pasolini film. The only example of his work I've ever seen is his adaptation of some of the Canterbury Tales. At least I think that was his...

Regarding Sherlock, all three episodes of the new second season have just finished airing in the UK. I admit that, because I'm currently stranded Stateside, I had to procure them via less-than-desirable means. However, if you should want to see them... *cough* Well, just say the word.

Well, except for the work thing...

If gods and reapers start trooping through the nursery, I'm calling you.

It was a good visit.

What did you think of the second series? I loved A Scandal in Belgravia, rather more mixed about the other two.

I loved Scandal and Reichenbach the most. I was astonished to find that I thought Hounds was weakest of the set; I usually have higher expectations of Gatiss's writing. Overall, though, I think it outdid Season 1.

Wow, so much. A lot of lovely things (especially your godchild).

Yeah, I very much agree with you; I thought Gatiss would go with a fairly straight adaptation. Surprising, considering he's well known for his love of Victoriana and "trad" horror.

That sounds like a lovely and interestingly serendipitous weekend.

Oh, Barbarella is a guilty pleasure of mine.

I was just gratified by how much of doesn't even need to be guilty!

One of my favourite lines ever is: "The angel is aerodynamically sound. It's just a question of morale."

Yes. Although my personal pick from that script is "Decrucify the angel or I'll melt your face!" You just don't get that anywhere else.

And I'm guessing Matmos is one of your favourite bands?

Yes. I discovered them a few years ago with For Alan Turing (2006), quickly backtracked to The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast (2006), and branched out from there. They're terrific.

I'm also pleased you encountered a polite TSA employee.

I can't see anyone signing up to work for the TSA and then getting an attack of conscience about it, so I sort of figured he's stuck with the job in this economy and just trying not to be a jerk about it. I can appreciate that.

an Irish-language documentary about the conflict in Afghanistan in which a friend of mine has the primary speaking role

That's neat!

Parakeets of doom? I can't believe I've not yet seen a film, seven years older than myself, that would contain such a thing.

There are also finches, but the parakeets are more relevant in this context.

I truly need to see Medea now.

You do. If it's representative of Pasolini, I'll like him as much as Jarman. It's Netflixable, too.

Aww, great picture.

Thank you! That's all my godchild.

and being UTTERLY TERRIFIED by the dolls, so much so I thought for years it was a horror movie. Hah.

They are pretty scary dolls!

I do recall stumbling across an review of it, in a book of essays on design, that argued it was more genuinely futuristic than 2001.

If you can point me in the direction of the essay or the author, I'd love to see that. Barbarella really doesn't look like any other science fiction I can remember from the 1960's—there are a lot of go-go boots and there's nothing to be done about the music (which does scream 1968! in a way the fetish gear doesn't), but I have no entire what much of the art design evolved from. Forty years on, it doesn't look retro and it doesn't look like the standard-issue future of its decade; I assume a lot of it is Jean-Claude Forest, but I have no idea where he was getting it. (Oh. Wikipedia tells me he worked with Alain Resnais. That makes a certain amount of sense.)

I think I have to see Barbarella - it sounds both weirder and more fun than I had been led to believe.

I do recommend it! It doesn't even require irony.

I also love one of the bands who got their name from it, but I'm not sure it's the same one.

I love Matmos. I'm sure I've heard Duran Duran, but not actually so as I could bring any of their songs to mind.

I'm glad you liked Sherlock.

I was horrified when I realized B. had never heard of the series before I brought it up. I do not introduce people to pop culture [edit] unless it's at least fifty years old!

Edited 2012-01-23 19:42 (UTC)

I thought Gatiss would go with a fairly straight adaptation. Surprising, considering he's well known for his love of Victoriana and "trad" horror.

He was completely off my radar before Sherlock—I'd heard of The League of Gentlemen, but I couldn't have told you who was in it. Between Mycroft and his script for "The Great Game," however, he's got my attention.

Also I see he's written a biography of James Whale, which I will be all over as soon as I can find a copy. Are his novels any good?

I confess that back in the 80s, I was a huge Duran Duran fan. They were pretty much my teen idols, at least for the early part of my adolescence. Luckily, most of their music from those days doesn't hold up too badly. I still enjoy listening to their first three albums.
Matmos is a band I really should look into.

Matmos is a band I really should look into.

These are the first songs of theirs I heard:

"Enigma Machine for Alan Turing"

The Enigma machine featured on this song was recorded at Cryptography Research in San Francisco. We are grateful to Paul Kocher for granting us access to this fragile, historic object. MIDI information within the song is being encrypted by a MAX patch which hosts a java emulation of the Enigma machine’s encryption process.

"Messages from the Unseen World"

The text is taken from a series of postcards sent by Alan Turing to Robin Gandy before his suicide; each as titled “Messages from the Unseen World.” Three have survived but the fourth was destroyed.

"Cockles and Mussels"

Faced with an imminent trial on charges of gross indecency, Alan Turing insisted upon playing “Cockles and Mussels” on the violin for the police officers who came to his home to take his statement.

I was in love.

I'm going to have to track down that Pasolini film.

It's astonishing. And you can get it on Netflix, which is almost inexplicable.

The only example of his work I've ever seen is his adaptation of some of the Canterbury Tales. At least I think that was his...

He's certainly responsible for one.

The next film we want to see is Teorema (1968), since its premise appears to be, "Terence Stamp has sex with everybody."

Well, except for the work thing...

"Mrs. Lincoln . . ."

If gods and reapers start trooping through the nursery, I'm calling you.

Also if your TV starts streaming Carmen Miranda musicals, although I will maintain it's not my fault.

It was a good visit.

I am very glad I came.

A lot of lovely things (especially your godchild).

I like her!

That sounds like a lovely and interestingly serendipitous weekend.

It was exhausting, but a very good thing to do.

The Lucifer Box novels are great - I would recommend The Vesuvius Club (it has Beardsleyesque illustrations, plus there's a graphic novel in the same style!) in particular.

I have never heard any Matmos, though given my taste for electronica I think I'd rate em; any recommendations?

would recommend The Vesuvius Club (it has Beardsleyesque illustrations, plus there's a graphic novel in the same style!) in particular.

That does sound tempting. At least, I'm both intrigued and amused by the names.

I have never heard any Matmos, though given my taste for electronica I think I'd rate em; any recommendations?

See response to

kenjari a few lines down; if you like the EP, I'll send you its parent album.

"Decrucify the angel or I'll melt your face!"

SEEING THIS ALL THE SOON.

What a fine-lookin' icon!

VERY sweet photo.

And wow, I've somehow never seen a writeup of Barbarella, and now I MUST SEE IT

I can't see anyone signing up to work for the TSA and then getting an attack of conscience about it, so I sort of figured he's stuck with the job in this economy and just trying not to be a jerk about it. I can appreciate that.

I should hope we all can. It would be good if more of them were like him.

That's neat!

It is. It would be nice if the US military would stop sending friends of mine to places like that, but I'm glad they allowed himself and Raidió Teilifís Éireann to make the documentary. (I'd render the title as "(A) Challenge: The Soldier", FWIW.)

There are also finches, but the parakeets are more relevant in this context.

That seems appropriate, for some reason I can't quite articulate.

Reyner Banham - I think the title of the article was "The Triumph of Software." By "software," he seemed to mean not computer software, but something more like what we'd call ergonomics.

VERY sweet photo.

She's a sweet kid.

And wow, I've somehow never seen a writeup of Barbarella, and now I MUST SEE IT

If you like it, thank

rushthatspeaks; I would almost certainly never have seen it without them. It's not the best movie I've seen even in the last week—that would be Medea—but it's worth your time.

SEEING THIS ALL THE SOON.

Enjoy!

I realize that really it's a cockatiel.

I realize that really it's a cockatiel.

. . . It's still a good icon.

Nice icon, all the same.

Cockatiels of doom are also cool, and if they want to call themselves parakeets I reckon I'd not dare to oppose them.

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I'll do things to you that are beyond all known philosophies

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