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Another picker
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: For Sale
- Hits: 1260
It's poor pickings, I haven't died and there's stuff I don't want to part with yet, there's an order to this diminishing of self, skewed towards big things first, then small, and smaller until finally the legion of things I haven't yet thought about yet.
After all the miscellaneous randoms the books will go, first by a half, then another half, then another, surely I don't need every book by Somerset Maughm, Nabokov even, "Ada", "Lolita" and "Pale Fire" will suffice, and so I'll work through the list, a couple of the best by my favorite authors, keep the reference, psychology, mythology, fairy tales, dictionaries of mythology, phrase and fable, and my books will become manageable, there will be room to live.
Another picker, random enquiries on Kijiji - thought it was a another one of those, YOU KNOW - just want to talk, but he came by, pleasant enough, he's here for the artist's models, he knows what they cost at the art store, as well, a chain mail glove, I suggest the fencing foils but he says no - his wife would kill him (then why the glove?), a pair of dumbells, a microphone stand. Maybe he's a picker, but he's got pretty eclectic tastes...
He asks about the story with the artists models - they're for figurative drawing, and I had written about a lady I had met down the street about 15 years ago who was selling all these paintings she had done, of the little mannequins posed in various settings, somehow she didn't understand that they were supposed to be placeholders for real people, and he's laughing, he thinks I was joking. I wasn't, I don't need to make much up, life surpasses me in absurdity at every turn. His English, it's not so good, and I'm always surprised when foreigners get my sense of humor, few enough of the locals do, and he's laughing harder now when I tell him it's true...
So another day, more shit gone, time now to unpack some more boxes...
Dogtooth - Dente Canino
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 886
And, going now in reverse with writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos of "The Lobster" and "The Favorite" - we here have a director - while getting more polished in his technique by coming to Hollywood, losing his edge...
His films have grown more mainstream, which is - while better for him, worse for me.
Dogtooth (Dente Canino) - a completely surreal satire on (? and here I'm not sure? Greece & Government? OR The Middle Class? It works either way) - and it's amazing. 5 Stars in the first 15 minutes, more as the film goes on. Brutally funny, incisive, he annihilates the conventions and morals of the middle class, touching upon the contagion of home-schooled crazy, it's insane and works on more than a few levels...
Apparently he's done a few others, I will have to look for them and rescue them from obscurity, this is terrific stuff.
Blind Chance - Kieślowski
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 801
The premise - A man's life forks when he's attempting to board a train, and the movie traces each possible destiny from the fork. That is the plot. It's set against Communist Poland, and as such is worthwhile just for the reminder of how devastating the Soviets were to culture (and - in different ways, still are today), but it has some of Kieslowski's signatures, uncomfortably intimate moments, atmospheric, haunting.
Overall, my least favorite of his movies. Which is to say it's a damned good film by any standards, but what followed was breathtaking. If you're just discovering him maybe view the Dekalog first, then go back to the first two, then forward to the Blue, White & Red trilogy & La Double Vie de Veronique.
Reinforcing my dismal world view...
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Calgary
- Hits: 780
"Take what you like but leave some for others". I thought it was a kind thing, free rocks & dinosaur bones, but I was inundated. 700 views in 12 hours, 2 dozen messages, then the first 2 bright and squirrely...
First guy wants to take them all. I gently tell him - "Pick what you like but leave some for others, there's plenty there...". And he agrees and grabs a couple of buckets and leaves. Half are gone. The next, the same, and it's done, there's a few left - but not worth anyone driving over for.The second picker, he's Asian, and a bit despairing he got there 2nd, the first took all the good ones, the big ones, and I don't know why he wants them but - catch his eye - "Chinese Medicine?" - he doesn't answer, just looks at me. Maybe. Or maybe I'm being a racist prick, I don't want to be that but his taste isn't discerning in terms of quality or shape or structure, it's all about size, and I'm curious is all...their culture - to me at least - is still largely inscrutable.
There was plenty enough for everyone who responded to fill a medium canvas bag full, now there's none.
Offer something for free - whatever - and you can see the worst in people. I was half tempted to suggest that air was free, but I didn't want them hyperventilating and passing out in my hall. And if they paid? What are they like at an all-you-can-eat buffet?
Never again, and I can only despair at the state and future of humanity.
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