More ways to waste time

Herb and Dorothy
He was a postal clerk. She was a librarian.
With their modest means, the couple managed to build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history.

Meet Herbert and Dorothy Vogel, whose shared passion and commitment defied stereotypes and redefined what it means to be an art collector.


New York City premier 5th June, 2009 at Cinema Village



Thanks to The Errant Aesthete

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More ways to waste time

Housewife, 49 (2006)
Written by and starring Victoria Wood with David Threlfall, Stephanie Cole, Christopher Harper, Ben Crompton, and Lorraine Ashbourne.

Based on the wartime diaries of Nella Last. The diary, originally part of the Mass-Observation project to document the lives of ordinary people (in this case, a housewife aged 49), was first published in 1981.

This is not the war of the newsreels - it's about tiny domestic difficulties, chilly church halls, lumpy custards. And Nella is fighting her own war, one that she hopes will end in liberation. - Victoria Wood


Available in 9 parts on youtube, here.


Nella Last's War: The Second World War Diaries of Housewife, 49

Nella Last's Peace: The Post-War Diaries Of Housewife, 49


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Now playing on iTunes: Linda Ronstadt - What'll I Do?
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More ways to waste time

Arabesque (1966) - Trailer


Arabesque (1966), the stylish romantic thriller starring Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren.

An American hieroglyphics expert, Professor David Pollock (Peck), is hired by a mysterious oil magnate by the name of Beshraavi (played by Alan Badel) to decipher a secret message. When the hidden meaning is revealed, the chase is on as he and the oil magnate's exotic yet unpredictable companion, Yasmin Azir (Loren), find themselves caught in the middle of a plot to assassinate the Prime Minister.



Scene with Sophia Loren and Alan Badel


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Now playing on iTunes: The Ones - Flawless
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Out of context...

The most ordinary of things can be quite smart. Such as these Cuban cinema posters.

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Now playing on iTunes: Buena Vista Social Club - Buena Vista Social Club
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More ways to waste time

Catfish in Black Bean Sauce - Trailer

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Now playing on iTunes: Angie Stone, Bahamadia, Erykah Badu & Queen Latifah - Love of My Life Worldwide
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More ways to waste time

Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)






Raise the Red Lantern (1991)




Timothy Mo's Sour Sweet was made into a film in 1988. Saddly it has not been rereleased on DVD. Luckily, it is a wonderful read.






The Wedding Banquet (1993)

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Now playing: Level 42 - The Chinese Way
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More ways to waste time

The Holly Woodlawn Story: A Low Life in High Heels





Broken Goddess, signed limited edition




Warhol superstar Holly Woodlawn in an homage to the silent screen. Shot in the summer of 1973, Broken Goddess became one of the great underground New York films of its period.


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Now playing: Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side
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My Life So Far

The surprising and candid Jane Fonda addresses an audience at UC Santa Barbara. Tune in for her insights into her remarkable life - an Academy Award-winning actress, controversial activist, aerobics instructor and generous philanthropist. - University of California Television


With the exception of her performances in Barbarella and Klute, I have always had an intense dislike of Ms. Fonda. Not the message but the delivery, far too strident and brittle for my taste. While this talk did not necessarily change my opinion of her, it did give me a newly found respect for her.

I highly recommend taking the time to watch.

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Now playing: Duran Duran - Electric Barbarella
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More ways to waste time

Milk

You gotta give 'em hope

I haven't seen Milk, but oh how I want to. I feel as if I had been there, and in a way I had. The year was 1978, we had just moved permanently to San Francisco, and I was a freshman in high school. I remember it clearly, the special assembly, the breast beating and rending of cloth was all because Mayor George Moscone had been killed. Harvey Milk was barely mentioned. Even then, the inequality of that struck me.

History seems to have redressed the balance.




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More ways to waste time

Entertaining Mr. Sloane, the 1970 screen adaptation of Joe Orton's first full length play, staring Beryl Reid, Harry Andrews, Peter McEnery, and Alan Webb.


Entertaining Mr. Sloane theme by Georgie Fame.




The Killing of Sister George, the 1968 film directed by Robert Aldrich based on the play by Frank Marcus, staring Beryl Reid, Susannah York, and Coral Browne.


The original cinema trailer.

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Guess who's coming to dinner

Peter Greenway



The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover


There is a difference between that which is pretty and pleasing and that which is beautiful and more difficult to bear.


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Now playing: Rufus Wainwright - Dinner at Eight
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I have read the book, now I must see the film

Madeleine Castaing's Leves, Photograph by Rene Stoeltie, Copyright 2008.

I have been in torment ever since I discovered that there was a documentary on Madeline Castaing. Madeline Castaing by Christopher Flach, premiered earlier this year in San Francisco and in New York. According to Wendy Moonan, at The New York Times, the DVD can be purchased directly from Mr. Flach. I hope she is correct.

Madeleine was brilliant, witty, talented, very clever and very creative, but she was also very manipulative. Behind the glamour there is something very dark and terrifying in her personality. - Jean-Nöel Liaut author of Madeleine Castaing: From Montparnasse to Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Note - An Aesthete's Lament did a post about this very film back in February.
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Now playing: Madeleine Peyroux - Dance Me to the End of Love
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This week's film selection is...

The Dying Gaul starring Patricia Clarkson, Peter Sarsgaard, and Campbell Scott.





Dying Gaul, Capitoline Museums Rome
Roman marble copy after a bronze original from Pergamon, Turkey; life size. Circa 230 B.C.

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Rainy Sunday cinema

Visconti's Gruppo di famiglia in un interno, or as it was originally released in English, Conversation Piece. The sets are stunning. And, it also shows the Fendi sisters at their very best.

La Wally aria from Diva - Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez

This movie marked the beginning of the end of the life that my parents had planned for me, and the beginning of a life that I had not yet envisioned. For the first time I saw that culture could exist outside of a haute bourgeois setting. A pivotal and liberating moment.