Ortolan Honey

by angeliska on April 26, 2010


(Painting by Remedios Varo)
Are you ready for a journey through the wilds of my brain, via l’internet?
Let’s go! Oh, but first — I can’t stop singing this song:
There Goes a Tenner (Tara got it stuck there!)
It might be my very favorite Kate Bush song. Maybe.
“Ooh, I remember
That rich, windy weather
When you would carry me,
Pockets floating
In the breeze.”

Best lyrics, ever.
Marry me, Kate.
✶ I’m very excited to hear that The Invention of Hugo Cabret
will be made into a film soon (directed by Scorsese, in 3D no less!)
It’s really a little redundant, as the book is such a work of wonder.
If you’ve not come across it yet, I entreat you to do so — promptly!
✶ Also, I’m waiting with baited breath for this:
THE THOUSAND AUTUMNS OF JACOB DE ZOET by David Mitchell
Mitchell is probably my favorite living author. For real.

B. Traven: A Mystery Solved
I’ve been totally absorbed in this fascinating BBC Documentary
about the elusive author, thanks to Rusty Lazer who turned me
on to his books in a late-night kitchen-table mind-meld recently.
I realized after hearing a description of this man, that the author
in Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 had to be based on none other!
I just bought The Savage Detectives today.
My summer reading list is gettin’ real tasty — blankets and margaritas and books, ahoy!
✶ Does anyone here remember this movie playing on television all the time?:
“Just One Of The Guys, the 1985 crossdressing teen comedy that
seamlessly integrated boob shots and gender discrimination critiques”

This movie made a huge impression on me when I was wee! I loved it, a lot.
WILD WOMAN: TALLULAH BANKHEAD
I love Tallulah — hooray for Violetville!
✶ If you’ve ever asked a doctor if you could keep a piece of your body
they’ve recently extracted, or if you’re obsessed with the ballet, (or
my case, both apply) then you absolutely must read this article:
A Ballerina, Inside Out – by Toni Bentley
“A ballet dancer goes onstage on a given night, in a specific theater,
in a specific ballet and executes, in a specific fraction of musical time
a movement that is already past just as it appears. And it takes far more
than 10,000 hours of practice and repetition to make this movement exquisite,
worthy. A dancer’s entire career consists of these moments of non-existence;
they are not even fleeting, they are, somehow, never there at all,
a shadow in someone else’s mind at best.”

So brilliant. Many thanks to Odette O. for sending me the link!
She’s also the one that turned me on to this – (which I must see!):
The Desert of Forbidden Art
“How does art survive in a time of oppression? During the Soviet rule
artists who stay true to their vision are executed, sent to mental hospitals or Gulags.
Their plight inspires young Igor Savitsky. He pretends to buy state-approved art
but instead daringly rescues 40,000 forbidden fellow artist’s works and creates
a museum in the desert of Uzbekistan, far from the watchful eyes of the KGB.
Though a penniless artist himself, he cajoles the cash to pay for the art from
the same authorities who are banning it. Savitsky amasses an eclectic mix
of Russian Avant-Garde art. But his greatest discovery is an unknown school
of artists who settle in Uzbekistan after the Russian revolution of 1917,
encountering a unique Islamic culture, as exotic to them as Tahiti was for Gauguin.
They develop a startlingly original style, fusing European
modernism with centuries-old Eastern traditions.”

See also: ART; In a Far Desert, a Startling Trove of Art
36 chilling photos of last Wednesday’s earthquake in Yushu, China (via brainpickings)
So many earthquakes. Volcanos. The end times are feelin’ kinda nigh, eh?

✶ This is one of my very favorite Siouxsie and the Banshees songs:
– Il Est Né le Divin Enfant (It’s a very grainy rip of a televised performance
of a French Christmas carol that was the b-side to 1982’s “Melt!”)

(Thank you, dear Monsieur Scythrop!)
✶ I love, love, love, love this:
Marina Abramović Made Me Cry
Thanks for the link, Tavi and thank you for your work Marina!
✶ New favorite blog: Ephemera Assemblyman
✶ Loving this: Miu Miu in Japan from Mlle. Clever Nettle!
✶ Other new favorite blog: Crappy Taxidermy
It’s my favorite kind! The rattier and weirder, the better.
✶ Okay, and one more thing:
LOST Tarot Cards by Alex Griendling
(These are beautifully designed!
Hi, I collect tarot decks and I’m a dork. Gimme.)
What are you reading/singing/loving right now? Do tell!

7 comments

wth. i just clicked on this as S said “you want me to put on more Kate Bush?”
UNIVERSE.

by verhext on April 26, 2010 at 9:38 pm. Reply #

Patti Smith’s “Just Kids”…I think you would love it so so so much

by Melissa on April 26, 2010 at 11:58 pm. Reply #

I’ve been listening to Fabrizio Paterlini lately…I have yen toward melancholy piano pieces, but there is something uplifting and hopeful about these compositions and it is quite affecting.
Also re-reading one of my favourite books of Japanese poetry – River of Stars: The Collected Poems of Yosano Akiko. One of my favourites is….
Please forgive me
I’m not allowed to live
in this world. Sake,
pale lavender just sends me
and I’m hopelessly lost.

by mlle ghoul on April 27, 2010 at 4:18 am. Reply #

Oh! How I love Remedios Varo. She makes me want to paint, but since I can’t draw, I try to let her paintings help me write better.

by Virginia on April 27, 2010 at 5:54 am. Reply #

I’m still loving darkdarkdark!

by Gabriel on April 27, 2010 at 11:54 am. Reply #

That’s Robert Smith, wistfully clutching the cymbals in the back row in the Siouxsie video, right? 🙂
I am reading every Elizabeth Goudge book I can get my hands on right now … absolutely sweet and magical stories!!

by Susanne Lynette on April 27, 2010 at 1:57 pm. Reply #

I totally remember One of the Guys! I loved that movie, too!
Also in your previous entry, the way you arranged the rabbit brooch and the watch for the photo immediately made me think of Alice in Wonderland…as a coincidence I bought a T-shirt today that features the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland…

by Nica on April 27, 2010 at 3:47 pm. Reply #

Leave your comment

Required.

Required. Not published.

If you have one.

ERROR: si-captcha.php plugin says GD image support not detected in PHP!

Contact your web host and ask them why GD image support is not enabled for PHP.

ERROR: si-captcha.php plugin says imagepng function not detected in PHP!

Contact your web host and ask them why imagepng function is not enabled for PHP.