settima

drugs

Das Netz – Unabomber / LSD / Internet [The Net] (Lutz Dammbeck, 2003)

Apr

27

personal computer mouse – 1981

Das Netz (2003)

A mouse in action. Note the stress ball. DPs: James Carman, István Imre & Thomas Plenert.

A computer mouse: the first personal computer mouse debuted on this day in 1981.

“To those who think that all this sounds like science fiction, we point out that yesterday's science fiction is today's fact. The Industrial Revolution has radically altered man's environment and way of life, and it is only to be expected that as technology is increasingly applied to the human body and mind, man himself will be altered as radically as his environment and way of life have been.”

– Theodore J. Kaczynski

A Gedankenspiel.

 

Similar to the way moveable print has accelerated the spread of ideas, the personal computer mouse accelerated the speed of which individualist's ideas can spread. However, like the printing press and unlike the spoken word, the mouse can only point and enhance pre-existing notions, thus neutering any prospect of revolutionary change on an individual level.

 

In a grotesque snub to nature, the pointing finger has transcended the mouse, detaching our minds from our bodies in one infinite scroll.

Hell Bound (William J. Hole Jr., 1957)

Mar

12

Saturday

Hell Bound (1957)

A man writes a name in the 9:30 a.m. time slot of the calendar page for Saturday March 21. DP: Carl E. Guthrie.

“Three days ago, at exactly 0600 – because that is really not the time – on February 5 – because that is really not the date – this freighter, which shall be nameless, sailed from a certain Far Eastern port. Its destination: The Port of Los Angeles, Wilmington, California. This is fact.”

– narrator

Trash (Paul Morrissey, 1970)

Feb

23

freebie: Paul Morrissey born

Trash (1970)

Jane Forth, Paul Morrissey, and Joe Dallesandro in a publicity photo for Trash. DP: Paul Morrissey.

Freebie: Paul Morrissey born (1938 – 2024)

“Just because people throw it out and don't have any use for it, doesn't mean it's garbage.”

– Holly

The Trip Back (Ralph Weisinger, 1970)

Jan

11

The Trip Back (1970)

Florrie Fisher telling the kids about her highs and lows in the gutter. DPs: Donald Shapiro & Ralph Weisinger.

“Twenty-three years of living with nothing but gutter hypes and junkies!”

– Florrie Fisher

Altered States (Ken Russell, 1980)

Jan

7

Wed

Altered States (1980)

Eddie Jessup (William Hurt) in his tank. Around him visions of clouds, fishes, the ocean. DP: Jordan Cronenweth.

“I'm a man in search of his true self. How archetypically American can you get?”

– Eddie Jessup

Das Gold der Liebe [The Gold of Love] (Eckhart Schmidt, 1983)

Nov

9

Das Gold der Liebe (1983)

DAF-fan Patricia (Alexandra Curtis). DP: Bernd Heinl.

“Oh keiner macht's wie du, Wie du so traut sich's keiner, So wie du”

– DAF – El Que (Gold und Liebe (1981)

More (Barbet Schroeder, 1969)

Sep

7

More (1969)

Estelle (Mimsy Farmer) and Stefan (Klaus Grünberg) tripping in Ibiza. DP: Néstor Almendros.

“I had imagined this journey as a quest. I finished my studies in math. I wanted to live. I wanted to burn all the bridges, all the formulas, and if I got burned, that was okay, too. I wanted to be warm. I wanted the sun and I went after it.”

– Stefan

Red & Rosy (Frank Grow, 1989)

Jun

3

Red & Rosy (1989)

Big Red (Rico Martinez) in his hotrod. DPs: Frank Grow, Ralph Hawkins & Rico Martinez.

Altered States (Ken Russell, 1980)

May

18

tea

Altered States (1980)

An almost monochrome man and woman in Edwardian costumes sit at a round table under a parasol. The couple looks out over a field with bright orange poppies. The flowers are filmed through a fisheye lens and appear to be on a grassy green planet.. DP: Jordan Cronenweth.

“She's still crazy about him. He's still crazy.”

Die schwarze Spinne [The Black Spider] (Mark M. Rissi, 1983)

Oct

20

Die schwarze Spinne (1983)

Christine (Beatrice Kessler) and her junkie friends eating the old man's food. DP: Edwin Horak.

“Nur ein leichtfertig Knechtlein, dem es gleichgültig war, regne oder sonnenscheine es in der Ernte, wenn nur das Jahr umging und der Lohn kam und zu jeder Essenszeit das Essen auf den Tisch, griff zum Löffel und berichtete Christine, daß noch keine Buche gepflanzet sei und alles gehe, als ob sie verhext wären.”

– Jeremias Gotthelf, Die schwarze Spinne (1842)