settima

history

鬼の詩 [Oni no uta / Song of the Devil] (Tetsutaro Murano, 1975)

Apr

29

Jerry Seinfeld – 1954

鬼の詩 (1975)

Keima Kyo entertaining his audience by hanging numerous clay pipes from his face. DP: Yasuhiro Yoshioka.

A comedian, or set in Brooklyn or NYC, for Jerry Seinfeld's birthday (1954).

 

Rakugo (落語, litt. “story with a fall”), is a style of Japanese comedy performed while seated. Armed with a few props, the rakugoka recites a comical monologue using pitch and gestures.

 

A dramatic retelling of the life of rakugoka Katsura Beikyo II. Keima Kyo, a talented rakugoka, is offered apprenticeship from an older successful performer, but refuses. Young and arrogant, he decides to take over the other man's act instead.

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.

La última cena [The Last Supper] (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, 1976)

Apr

18

Good Friday

La última cena (1976)

The count, Christ, flanked by two of his slaves, John and Thomas respectively. DP: Mario García Joya.

Good Friday: an occurrence during a Friday or weekend.

 

During Holy Week, a count visits his sugar mill on the day one of his slaves has escaped. Reluctant, overseer Don Manuel picks twelve slaves to join the count at his dinner table for a lecture about the possibility of happiness in slavery, all made up to resemble the Last Supper, with the count as Christ and the slaves as his apostles. Then conversation picks up, and the slaved men request, and are granted, a day off on Good Friday.

Culloden (Peter Watkins, 1964)

Apr

16

1746

Culloden (1964)

One of the clansman. The look in his eyes foreshadows the Vietnam War this films comments on. DP: Dick Bush.

“Sir Thomas Sheridan, Jacobite military secretary. Suffering advanced debility and loss of memory. Former military engagement, 56 years ago. Sir John MacDonald, Jacobite captain of cavalry. Aged, frequently intoxicated, described as 'a man of the most limited capacities.' John William O'Sullivan, Jacobite quartermaster general. Described as 'an Irishman whose vanity is superseded only by his lack of wisdom.' Prince Charles Edward Stuart, Jacobite commander in chief. Former military experience: 10 days at a siege at the age of 13.”

– narrator

Το άλλο γράμμα [To allo gramma / The Other Letter] (Lambros Liaropoulos, 1976)

Apr

6

Greece

Το άλλο γράμμα (1976)

A woman observing her own reflection (via). DP: Stavros Hassapis.

Something something Greece (or the Olympics) on the date of the 1896 Summer Olympics

 

Athens seen through words put down in letters, forming a narrative of the city, Greece, its history, and its people.

The Patriot Game (Arthur MacCaig, 1979)

Apr

4

MLK Jr. – 1968

The Patriot Game (1979)

A older lady calmly clips her hedges while a British soldier attempts to hide behind them (via). DPs: Arthur MacCaig & Théo Robichet.

The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.: civil rights being fought for.

“All the ideas I'd previously had were shown to be completely false. This was the first time I had really seen the strength and the power of a mass struggle; ordinary people directly participating in organizing their communities, and the defense of their communities.”

– Arthur MacCaig, title card

Die Patriotin [The Patriotic Woman] (Alexander Kluge, 1979)

Mar

29

秦始皇兵马俑

Die Patriotin (1979)

Teacher Gabi Teichert (Hannelore Hoger), knee-deep in a puddle with a shovel, inspecting a find. DPs: Guenter Hoermann, Werner Lüring, Thomas Mauch & Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein.

Something buried: discovery of the Terracotta Army on March 29, 1974

 

A German history teacher, unhappy with the standardised history textbooks she has to work with, literally digs up her nation's past and sees how it is reflected in modern society.

Ludwig (Luchino Visconti, 1973)

Mar

25

Elton John – 1947

Ludwig (1973)

Elisabeth “Sissi” of Austria (Romy Schneider) and King Ludwig II of Bavaria (Helmut Berger) in his beloved Venus Grotto below Schloss Linderhoff. Ludwig wanted blue light in reference to the Grotta Azzurra in #Capri, and had electricity installed in the grotto, which was the first usage of electricity in Austria. DP: Armando Nannuzzi.

A flamboyant character for Elton John’s birthday (1947).

“I want to remain an enigma forever. To others, and also to myself.”

– Ludwig II

Le tombeau d'Alexandre [The Last Bolshevik] (Chris Marker, 1993)

Feb

25

Warsaw Pact

Le tombeau d'Alexandre (1993)

Still from a Medvedkin film. Silhouettes in light of Lenin and Stalin facing each other are projected above a crowd of people. DP of Le tombeau d'Alexandre: Chris Marker.

Sebastiane (Paul Humfress + Derek Jarman, 1976)

Feb

18

Pluto Day

Sebastiane (1976)

Sebastian (Leonardo Treviglio) sits on a rock in a barren landscape. Two men in the distance, and a sheep, all have their backs turned to him. DP: Peter Middleton.

Someone is snubbed or rejected on Pluto [Discovery] Day*.

“His body is golden like molten gold. This hand of his… will smooth away these wounds. Justin, he is as beautiful as the sun. This sun which caresses me… is his burning desire. He is Phoebus Apollo. The sun… is his… burning kiss.”

– Sebastian

Sebastian, member of the Emperor's personal guard, is exiled after an incident. He finds himself on a rocky outpost, and the object of the other men's lust. One of them – a centurion rejected by the Christian boy – subjects Sebastian to torture and eventually lifts him up martyrdom.

 

* Pluto Demoted Day is on August 24