I don’t have a lot of Dutch heroes. The two that I have are both photographers. Erwin Olaf is one of them. VPRO television aired a marathon interview with this 51 year old photographer this evening, in which he talked about his work and various tv, film and documentary fragments that meant something to him. He came intelligent, humble, inspired and passionate. Feedback on Twitter re: the show and Erwin was extremely positive (#1 trending topic) all evening and went into overdrive during his fiery rant near the end of the show, in which he called for people to unite, be brave and strike back at the growing intolerance and violence against gay men and women in our nation’s capital in particular.
There are things in life that you want, but think you’ll never going to be able or willing to afford. I’ve seen and been bowled over (it’s a pun, but I’m serious) the artist Guggi‘s work in galleries, always wishing I could take one home with me. This week, I took one home with me. A wonderful Christmas gift from G.
This Volkswagen commercial combines ‘Lost in Translation’-type images with Richard Burton’s evocative reading of Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood. Gorgeous. (via Vanderzande.com).
I’m not that keen on motorcars in general, but I do keep telling people that driving through cities at night and London in particular is one of my favourite things in the whole wide world.
Puppetmaker and musician Erik Sanko (Lounge Lizzards, Tom Waits, Lou Reed.) has created a puppet show called The Fortune Teller. He made the puppets and wrote the music with Danny Elfman. Pre-recorded narration courtesy of the great Gavin Friday.
‘The Fortune Teller reveals a world of curiosities as seven unusual characters are invited to the estate of a late millionaire industrialist and informed they’ve been included in his will,’
The Fortune Teller
Created and Directed by Erik Sanko
Original Music composed by Danny Elfman and Erik Sanko
October 19-31, 2006 | Tickets ($20.00)
This is what I’ve been immersed in for the last two months (regular readers will perhaps have picked up on the Germanic flavour of certain items and links here), basically doing research and lending a hand wherever I can. Nothing major, mind. It isn’t a ‘job’, it’s sort of a string of small favours. What I get in return is the joy of being part of the process, which is just endlessly fascinating.
My trip to Dublin has been booked for a while now, eventhough the contracts hadn’t even been signed. I had faith.
It’s been a while since I’ve done a summer break in Ireland, as far as I remember. I’m going over for a week, arriving a few days before the shows to do what I can during the last two production days. I can’t wait to see it and find out which of my tiny contributions survive and come alive on stage.
I know it’s going to be brilliant.
Ich bin 6 m gross und alles ist wichtig
Ich bin 9 m gross und alles ist mehr als wichtig
Ich bin 12 m gross und alles ist unvorstellbar
Watching Matthew Barney’s Cremaster 4 and 5 at the Filmmuseum on Tuesday, we kept thinking ‘I get it now’, and ‘Oh, that’s symbolic for…’, and ‘Surely that must mean…’, “OMG, beyond Freudian…’, but mostly, ‘Um… maybe not.’
I kept looking for clues, for… story, rather than meaning, in these dialogue-free films, but the images and sound, though mostly compelling, made the kind of sense that’s, well, not. A tap dancing satyr, a diva, Houdini, a hero, motor cyclists, the Isle of Man, water, Ursula Andress singing in Hungarian, a horned ram, goo, Budapest, doves and wandering gonads…
Barney, according to the booklet we picked up from the theater, is obsessed with the human body and the cycle of life. That much was clear. We came away from the films impressed and bewildered, but convinced that perhaps there was no story to either film, and that the imagery was just what it was.
How wrong we were. The synopses on the Cremaster cycle website reveal the elaborate truth, the complex mix of myth and biology. It’s all bollocks, ‘course but isn’t that art? Beautiful bollocks? I buy it.
Unfortunately, I won’t be able to catch part 1 and 2 (though there’s a remedy), which are only on in the daytime, but I’ve booked to see part 3 next Sunday. Did you know Barney is Mr Björk? ‘Course you did.
