RandomCha

Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages [1922]

1. The old woman lies asleep on the bed. The devil showers her with coins, his long rakelike fingernails caressing her body.
2. The old woman picks up the severed hand of a corpse and detaches one of the fingers. She ties the finger with a length of string, and then dips it into a keg. She secures the end of the string with the stopper of the keg.
3. One by one the women go up to Satan, kneel down and kiss his ass.

“We have trade missions back and forth,” Ms. Palin said. “We — we do — it’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where — where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border.”

What’s playing at the festival this year? Here’s my overview.

Don’t forget:

"We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself," – Republican Party Platform, 2008.

So yeah, we’ve started watching Berlin Alexanderplatz, which is "a film in 13 episodes with a prologue." Whatever. It’s a mini-series, Mr. Fassbinder, so I’m not doing my usual 3 THINGS write-up. So there.

We just finished watching episode 4 last night. So far I’m enjoying it in bits, and I’d even say that it’s fairly engrossing. But it hasn’t wowed me like some of the other stuff of his I’ve seen. I don’t find myself wondering, "Gee, I wonder what happens next!" I know what happens next. Franz will go completely insane and Hitler will come to power. Okay, that reaction is unfair. It’s certainly not intended to be a soap-operaesque suspense thriller. It’s an epic examination of a national psyche. Perhaps its main power is its cumulative effect. In which case, it’s gonna be many many more evenings before I know for sure.

2 Movies About Water

Alphaville [1965]

1. Blinking neo sign: SUD.
2. He shoots the driver and then says, "That way I’m sure that you’ll keep your word."
3. Residents of Alphaville have a saying that is perpetually used when one anticipates a question: I’m very well, thank you, you’re welcome.

Yesterday was putting together IKEA furniture all day and doing two loads of laundry and then a nice, quiet dinner courtesy ofupsidedownblue. Our bedroom, aside from a small end table, is now 100% IKEA. Going to bed last night was like sleeping in a hotel room. Because of the new frame the matress felt a lot firmer than previously, and the brand-new pillows were novel as well. I loved how the pillows came with a two-paragraph primer on dust mites. Thanks for that.

Exciting news! At long last, Universal is releasing Vertigo on DVD in anamorphic widescreen. Previous DVD releases were letterbox only, which was a shame considering the work that went into restoring the picture. It’s gonna look awesome in HD now.