Film Spotlight: Andrzej Zulawski's Possession

Fucked-up and Incredible is the only way to describe it.

Its like Francis Bacon in a film.  Stunning, intense, disturbing and incredible imagery.  This performance really makes The Exorcist look like child's play.

Francis Bacon - Chimpanzee 1955

Trish Keenan of Broadcast

I thought I would write a post on Trisha Keenan of the incredible band, Broadcast.  She sadly passed away last year on the 14th January.  I was just looking through my emails and I remembered right at the beginning of my inbox, back in 2008 are a few emails I exchanged with Trish in regards to possibly making a costume especially for her to wear during one of their tours.

 Broadcast for me, are one of my favourite bands.  Their music represented a new form of thinking within music, that essentially was quietly making its mark on the world.  I can remember many times listening to their albums and feeling like I was trapped inside this little psychedelic world of dreams and surrealism.  They offered something new to the world of music listeners, their sound had a new and fresh approach to music, one that was inspiring and not merely commercial for the sake of selling to a wide audience.  I saw them once at Shepherds Bush and it was a wonderful and mesmerising performance, one i'll never forget.

 I just wanted to share the image she sent me, which she had created to give me a bit of inspiration in regards to creating the costume.

I never did finish any costume for her sadly, but I was touched to be able to have this little peak into her creative mind.  She also introduced me to watch a few movies from the Czech New wave movement such as Daisies by Věra Chytilová and Valerie and her Week of Wonders which she told me inspired the lyrics for the song Valerie.  

  Rest in peace and I hope you are making beautiful music in heaven or wherever you are.

Modern Chinese Ink Paintings

I made a visit to the British Museum today, with the intent on viewing the temporary exhibition on Modern Chinese Ink Paintings, the poster looked divine.  Alas, it was a surprisingly small exhibition and the poster sort of gave the wrong impression - I was hoping that a lot of the works were going to represent the same calibre as the beautiful drawing of a poppy flower (2007) by Liu Dan.  It was a mixed bag - a lot in the very traditionalist style of Chinese ink paintings but with the subject having a contemporary twist.

The poppy in particular, as well as a series of paintings of a rock (also Liu Dan) were very much in tune with the Victorian style of anatomical drawing - seemingly mark making to the very last vein in the stem or crevasse in a rock.    These two paintings were my favourite and really represent the sheer skill and talent of these Chinese ink artists.  Complex yet delicate can only describe the beauty of these images.  

Then there was an incredible painting (also Liu Dan) of a Chinese Dictionary - the placard on the wall described how Chinese Dictionary's during the revolution became very simplified and therefore I think the artist was making a political stand against the significant importance of chinese culture which the revolution was set to curtail.  The two pages are open on the description of Jade and Water - which it goes onto describe the Chinese representation of Jade and water being a connection to Ying and Yang the ultimate opposites in nature, but also the fact that these two substances had massive importance in China and its history. The painting is pretty much photo-real, you really have to look closely to believe its painted. 

Film Spotlight: Zhora's Death: Blade Runner

Is just a scene of incredible imagery. I wanted to get more shots, but I can't seem to do the screen shot thing on DVD's. 

Its just an amazing scene, she's wearing a PVC mac and the blood is dripping on the inside of the plastic... The neon lights, the shop window and smashed glass.  Its beautiful.  The background music is amazing too, sort of warped synth music....