i am he and he is me
That 1963 disappearance was a scandal. She had been the most beloved of film stars, her handsome face, accepting smile, known to all. And then, suddenly, rudely, without a word of apology, she was going to disappear—to retire.
Here, where the stars hang on, voluntary retirement is unknown, particularly for one the caliber of Setsuko Hara. She had become an ideal: men wanted to marry someone like her; women wanted to be someone like her.
This was because on the screen she reconciled her life as real people cannot. Whatever her role in films—daughter, wife, or mother—she played a woman who at the same time, somehow, was herself. Her social roles did not eclipse that individual self, our Setsuko.
— Donald Richie, Japanese Portraits
Setsuko Hara
Born June 17, 1920
THE CRITERION COLLECTION’S SEPTEMBER 2013 LINE-UP!
The Bergman/Rossellini set is almost an A+ sight unseen. The film selection alone (especially given how hard they’ve been to find on decent R1 DVDs) is essential, but the list of extras Criterion lists on their site is overwhelming. A commentary with Laura Mulvaney! Video essays by Tag Gallagher and James Quandt! Guy Maddin and Isabella Rossellini’s short! A booklet that is more exciting on its face than most full extras-sets! AND that’s not even half of what’s listed. I might melt from anticipation before I even get to see the transfers.
The rest of the lineup can’t help but pale in comparison, but I’m so happy to see SLACKER get a Blu-grade. I’ve been holding off purchasing the DVD to see if it’d get an upgrade.
“there’s no fucking food in my house” the musical
featuring the hit tracks:
- “do crackers taste good with pasta sauce”
- “the expiration date is passed, but will i get sick”
- “swiggity swag are there crumbs in this chip bag”
- “fuck it i’ll just eat ice”
You guys, Lindy West is doing a really good job. And in the wake of that good job (read: speaking out against rape jokes, and going head-to-head with a comic very willing to defend them), she is getting a lot of hate. A lot of hate. Hate that perpetuates rape culture and misogyny, and works only…
PRESS J AND THEN SHIFT R
WOAH.
…you know how everyone’s complaining about how every tumblr update makes things worse? i think i’m gonna have to be the one to say, well played tumblr. well played.
Option+R, not shift, but clever.
Let me tell you a thing, about an amazing man named Patrick Stewart
I went to Comicpalooza this weekend and I was full of nervous energy as I was standing in line to ask Sir Patrick Stewart a question at his panel. I first had to thank him for a speech he had given at amnesty international about domestic violence towards women . I had only seen it a few months ago but I was still dealing with my own personal experience with a similar issue, and I didn’t know what to call it. After seeing Patrick talk so personally about it I finally was able to correctly call it abuse, in my case sexual abuse that was going to quickly turn into physical abuse as well. I didn’t feel guilty or disgusting anymore. I finally didn’t feel responsible for the abuse that was put upon me. I was finally able to start my healing process and to put that part of my life behind me.
After thanking him I asked him “Besides acting, what are you most proud of that you have done in you life (that you are willing to share with us)?”. Sir Patrick told us about how he couldn’t protect his mother from abuse in his household growing up and so in her name works with an organization called Refuge for safe houses for women and children to escape from abusive house holds. Sir Patrick Stewart learned only last year that his father had actually been suffering from PTSD after he returned from the military and was never properly treated. In his father’s name he works with an organization called Combat Stress to help those soldiers who are suffering from PTSD.
They were about to move onto the next question when Sir Patrick looked at me and asked me “My Dear, are you okay?” I said yes, and that I was finally able to move on from that part of my life. He then passionately said that it is never the woman’s fault in domestic violence, and how wrong to think that it ever is. That it is in the power of men to stop violence towards women. The moderator then asked “Do you want a hug?”
Sir Patrick didn’t even hesitate, he smiled, hopped off the stage and came over to embrace me in a hug. Which he held me there for a long while. He told me “You never have to go through that again, you’re safe now.” I couldn’t stop thanking him. His embrace was so warm and genuine. It was two people, two strangers, supporting and giving love. And when we pulled away he looked strait in my eyes, like he was promising that. He told me to take care. And I will.
Sir Patrick Stewart is an absolute roll model for men. He is an amazing man and was so kind and full of heart. I want to let everyone know to please find help if you are in a violent or abusive house hold or relationship. There are organizations and people ready to help. I had countless people after the panel thanking me for sharing the story and asking him those questions. Many said they went through similar things. You are not alone.
^ Here is the video of my question to Sir Patrick Stewart
Photos by Eugene Lee, Thank you
Well I’m crying, I don’t know about you guys.
It’s too simplistic to say—as many people have done—that I am condemning the inhuman industrial world which oppresses the individuals and leads them to neurosis. My intention … was to translate the poetry of the world, in which even factories can be beautiful. The line and curves of factories and their chimneys can be more beautiful than the outline of trees, which we are already too accustomed to seeing. It is a rich world, alive and serviceable … The neurosis I sought to describe in Red Desert is above all a matter of adjusting. There are people who do adapt, and others who can’t manage, perhaps because they are too tied to ways of life that are by now out-of-date. — Michelangelo Antonioni
I’m increasingly learning to approach Antonioni this way, to see the warmth (and, often, the humor) underneath the veneer of cold alienation that is the Film 101 textbook description of him. I’m eager to revisit the early films of his I saw, like L’Avventura and Red Desert, to see how much more they can show me now.
The casual, playfully tsk-tsk way Julie Delpy says this line is 10000000x more romantic than the earnest but sappy way I thought it would be delivered having heard the line quoted before I saw the movie. So great.
He said Star Trek is too “philosophical”? Screw that noise.
I don’t know when this interview happened but I AM SAD AND ANGRY NOW
The philosophies in Star Trek are kinda part of the actual setting. If you don’t get that, why are you allowed to make Star Trek movies.
Sigh. The whole point of Star Trek is that it’s philosophical. If you don’t want philosophical Science Fiction, there’s plenty of that for you to enjoy, but Star Trek is philosophical. Philosophy is part of Star Trek’s DNA, and if you’re given the captain’s chair, you’d better damn well respect that.
Good for Wil Wheaton not being pleased about this. I saw video of a reunion expo the TNG cast did and when someone asked if they’d like TNG to get a reboot as well, the cast looked uncomfortable and even Brent Spiner’s sarcastic response ducked the question. I wonder how many cast members of TOS or TNG or whatever aren’t really comfortable with JJ Abrams “fixing” Star Trek by dumbing it down. Hell, even John Cho, who is in the damn new ones, emphasized how Khan used to be played by a man of color.
