I like a woman who has variation in her wardrobe
I remember expressing amazement (+ feeling superior) when H said once in Paris that she didn't know whether or not she had ever been in love with someone. I couldn't understand what she was talking about ... for me being in love is deciding: I'm in love + sticking with it, I'm always well-informed.
Susan Sontagthe English working class are far ahead of every other European lower class in the sheer energy of their indifference. "Most working-class people are not climbing," writes [Richard] Hoggart. "They do not quarrel with their general level ... the strong sense of the group among working-class people can express itself as a demand for conformity ... My contention is that most people [in England] are subjected to a sustained and ever-increasing bombardment of invitations to assume that whatever is, is right, so long as it is widely accepted and can be classed as entertaining." The working class of England today have no vision of society beyond the acquisitive - no version of themselves or their habits as anything other than transitional, on their way up or on their way out. The working class, at best, is a waiting room for people who aim to become middle class if possible. As a class in and of itself, it appears to be dead.
Andrew O'Hagan (whereas:Most mass-entertainments are in the end what DH Lawrence described as 'anti-life'. They are full of a corrupt brightness, of improper appeals and moral evasions. To recall instances: they tend towards a view of the world in which progress is conceived as a seeking of material possessions, equality as a moral levelling, and freedom as the ground for endless irresponsible pleasure. These productions belong to a vicarious, spectators' world; they offer nothing which can really grip the brain or heart. They assist a gradual drying-up of the more positive, the fuller, the more cooperative kinds of enjoyment, in which one gains much by giving much. They have intolerable pretensions; and pander to the wish to have things both ways, to do as we want and accept no consequences.
Richard Hoggart, The Uses of Literacy, p340; O'Hagan wrote a novel about early TV talent show casualty Lena Zavaroni.)
It's the Golden Globes! Another chance for ill-informed ranting about film! It's nice that Slumdog Millionaire won best picture (drama) and best director, not because it's the best drama of the past year, which it clearly isn't, but because it's undeniably brilliantly directed (and edited) and almost certainly better than the remaining nominees, none of which I've seen (Benjamin Button might be interesting, but The Reader, Revolutionary Road, and Frost/Nixon all sound like worthy literate uncinematic films for people who don't really like cinema). And I'm glad Mickey Rourke won best dramatic actor - I'm definitely looking forwards to seeing The Wrestler, which from the trailer looks like it could be great, and while Mickey Rourke's no Philip Seymour Hoffman he's a great actor in the John Wayne tradition, making this another victory for the cinematic over the literary. And Colin Farrell best comic actor for in In Bruges would be suitable if he hadn't beaten the shortlisted Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges). I'm amazed Vicky Cristina Barcelona won best comedy because it's universally assumed that all recent Woody Allen films are shit (as are 95% of Scarlett Johansson movies), though I've heard good things about this one. And I doubt Kate Winslet deserves both best dramatic actress and best supporting actress (The National Society of Film Critics gave their best supporting actress award to the legendary German star Hanna Schygulla for the brilliant The Edge of Heaven). And Bruce Springsteen got best song from The Wrestler, so maybe he can add another Oscar to the one he got for Streets of Philadelphia (Neil Young shoulda, etc...)
Woo it looks like the busy-ness at work is almost over. Will I ever do any of the work on my own project? Who knows or indeed cares?
Susan Sontagthe English working class are far ahead of every other European lower class in the sheer energy of their indifference. "Most working-class people are not climbing," writes [Richard] Hoggart. "They do not quarrel with their general level ... the strong sense of the group among working-class people can express itself as a demand for conformity ... My contention is that most people [in England] are subjected to a sustained and ever-increasing bombardment of invitations to assume that whatever is, is right, so long as it is widely accepted and can be classed as entertaining." The working class of England today have no vision of society beyond the acquisitive - no version of themselves or their habits as anything other than transitional, on their way up or on their way out. The working class, at best, is a waiting room for people who aim to become middle class if possible. As a class in and of itself, it appears to be dead.
Andrew O'Hagan (whereas:Most mass-entertainments are in the end what DH Lawrence described as 'anti-life'. They are full of a corrupt brightness, of improper appeals and moral evasions. To recall instances: they tend towards a view of the world in which progress is conceived as a seeking of material possessions, equality as a moral levelling, and freedom as the ground for endless irresponsible pleasure. These productions belong to a vicarious, spectators' world; they offer nothing which can really grip the brain or heart. They assist a gradual drying-up of the more positive, the fuller, the more cooperative kinds of enjoyment, in which one gains much by giving much. They have intolerable pretensions; and pander to the wish to have things both ways, to do as we want and accept no consequences.
Richard Hoggart, The Uses of Literacy, p340; O'Hagan wrote a novel about early TV talent show casualty Lena Zavaroni.)
It's the Golden Globes! Another chance for ill-informed ranting about film! It's nice that Slumdog Millionaire won best picture (drama) and best director, not because it's the best drama of the past year, which it clearly isn't, but because it's undeniably brilliantly directed (and edited) and almost certainly better than the remaining nominees, none of which I've seen (Benjamin Button might be interesting, but The Reader, Revolutionary Road, and Frost/Nixon all sound like worthy literate uncinematic films for people who don't really like cinema). And I'm glad Mickey Rourke won best dramatic actor - I'm definitely looking forwards to seeing The Wrestler, which from the trailer looks like it could be great, and while Mickey Rourke's no Philip Seymour Hoffman he's a great actor in the John Wayne tradition, making this another victory for the cinematic over the literary. And Colin Farrell best comic actor for in In Bruges would be suitable if he hadn't beaten the shortlisted Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges). I'm amazed Vicky Cristina Barcelona won best comedy because it's universally assumed that all recent Woody Allen films are shit (as are 95% of Scarlett Johansson movies), though I've heard good things about this one. And I doubt Kate Winslet deserves both best dramatic actress and best supporting actress (The National Society of Film Critics gave their best supporting actress award to the legendary German star Hanna Schygulla for the brilliant The Edge of Heaven). And Bruce Springsteen got best song from The Wrestler, so maybe he can add another Oscar to the one he got for Streets of Philadelphia (Neil Young shoulda, etc...)
Woo it looks like the busy-ness at work is almost over. Will I ever do any of the work on my own project? Who knows or indeed cares?