The Culturatti

By: Beal, graeme powell, James17930, Sarah P. & Tanya K.

Part I

Here we go again, cataloguing the last half of EW list of ‘new’ classic movies (don’t worry if you’re not quite sure what that means — after seeing what made the list and what didn’t, we’re not sure if they’re even sure).

Enjoy the ranting.

(more…)

Le Bassin Aux Nympheas
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Signed and dated
Oil on canvas
100.4 x 201 cm
Painted 1919

Another record-setting price for a Monet painting. Le Bassin Aux Nympheas fetched an astounding $80 million dollars, doubling the previous record for a Monet set only last month. Geez, the market for Monets is ludicris right now. Hmm, that makes me wonder how much mine is worth. Not that I would ever sell it of course. I appreciate my Monet purely for its artistic merit, not for its monetary value — I’m just interested is all.

Le Bassin Aux Nympheas is an extremely rare Monet, and has only been available for public viewing once in almost 90 years. In general, the demand for 19th century (early 20th century) European art has increased 13% since 2007. Check out the BBC page with video from the Christies’ auction. I would imagine that that auctioneer received a very generous tip.
tniapcco
llewopemearg

By: Beal, graeme powell, James17930, Sarah P. & Tanya K.

Here’s a surprise: someone published a list on the Internet! This time around, it was convenience store impulse-rack mainstay Entertainment Weekly with their countdown of 100 “New Movie Classics.” By their definition, “new” includes only the last 25 years (sorry, Death Wish II!), which means that none of us writing this can be classified as “new” anymore. Which is sad: we bunch of non-new people, sitting at our computers, our bones aching, nitpicking an Entertainment Weekly online list. Textbook sad.

We’ll begin with selected numbers from 100 down to 50 (lists are here and here), and get to the remainder later.

(more…)

The Baroque Cycle — Vol I: Quicksilver

Neal Stephenson

Once again, I’m so behind. This was first published in 2003 and 2004; I’m only reading it now. In terms of website-reviewing, this makes it ancient history — I might as well be writing about the Glorious Revolution. But wait . . . through good fortune, I can do both. For the events surrounding the deposition of James II of England from the throne are but one of the many intriguing story lines Stephenson entertains us with in this thick, esoteric tome (actually a collection of three separate novels).

Yes — I haven’t read something so enjoyable, and clever, in a long time. This book is what you might call ’smart fun;’ for, to really enjoy it, you should have either a fairly decent grasp of 17th c. European history, or at least be willing to hit Wikipedia every half-hour or so to look a bunch of stuff up (I admit I’m somewhere in the middle). You should also be fairly comfortable reading about geometrical proofs and cryptographic methods, most of the details of which, I’m afraid, are over my poor little artsy-boy head, even though I find the discussions within which they are framed quite interesting. Finally, you should have a zeal for adventure and an admiration of well-written descriptive verse — both of which I believe I do possess in spades. Hence my grand enjoyment.

(more…)

DAY FOUR:

Wii chastised me for not working out yesterday. Damn you Wii Fit! Don’t you know you’ve caused me pain?

I started my “workout” at about 11:30 pm at night, to see if I could cheat and get a stamp after midnight so this would count as two days. It worked! Makes me wonder about some of the people on the message boards who are saying this game is easy to cheat at. Why would you cheat at a game designed to make you more physically active?

(more…)

Original post at Jamie’s Trippin’.

Syndicated using magical powers . . .

Something strange happened to me today. I worked 15 hours at a frantic pace, stress levels brimming, yet still managed to make it to the grocery store before it closed. I needed water, you see. That’s not what’s strange.

The strange thing is I sort of spaced out for 20 minutes in the dairy section while looking for cream cheese. My mind went all fuzzy like the scrambled porn movies from a thousand confused boyhood nights. I just started thinking about bmx bikes, ball hockey and the D&D Monster Manual. Basically I went back in time to my geeky childhood. It was great. I’m sure the people watching me stare blankly at grated mozzarella in a suit and tie thought I was on drugs but Donnie Darko would have been proud.

(more…)

By Tom Thomson

Pine Trees at Sunset

Oil Sketch, 1915-1916

Tom Thomson is Canada’s equivalent of Monet. And Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello all rolled into one. While everybody is familiar with Thomson’s iconic status as a Canadian painter, few are aware of his secret, other life. He was also…a ninja.

For many years, Thomson spent his days honing his ninja skills in the backwoods of Northern Ontario, learning the ways of the ancient masters, and carefully perfecting the technique that has since become known as Thomsonitsu.

Many people believe that Thomson died as the result of a boating accident. The truth however, is much more insiduous. A rival ninja organisation, known simply as the Group of Seven, were jealous of Thomson’s talent, and plotted a way to get rid of him. One day, while Thomson was out on his beloved Canoe Lake, fishing, they struck. Thomson put up a brave struggle, but alas, the Group of Seven caught him off guard and overpowered him, ultimately killing Canada’s painter-ninja.

However, it looks as if Thomson has, and continues to have, the last laugh(s). His paintings regularly sell for much more money than any of the Group of Seven, and his reputation as Canada’s greatest, and most famous painter is assured.

This particular one, sold for nearly $2 million dollars at a Sotheby’s auction in Toronto several days ago.

tniapcco llewopemearg

y month has been marked with more movies worth mentioning than most. In many moments, I’m of a mind to meander as I mouth off on motion pictures. But might I make the move to minimize my meditation, and motion to maintain a modest amount of mulling for these media as I masticate? Maybe… (more…)

I don’t think I have ever been more excited about a movie in my life. I also don’t think I have ever had as much trepidation about a movie before either. Even though I have recently found some troubling aspects in the original three features, I still cannot deny that they are among my favourite films. Raiders, Temple, and Last Crusade are comfort food, and an instant portal to childhood.

I never really wanted another Indiana movie. I felt that the finale of Last Crusade, the four heroes riding off into the sunset, made the perfect ending to the trilogy. So when rumours of a fourth began to circulate, and circulate, and then die down, and then circulate some more, I, to quote Indy, was beginning to have “a bad feeling about this.” I felt there was no way that they could make a movie as good as Raiders, or as good as Last Crusade (my personal favourite). Making a film better then Temple would not, in my mind, be much of an accomplishment. But I suppose the real threat, and I in no way hold the trinity of Spielberg, Lucas, and Ford accountable for this, was that there was no way they could make a movie as good as my childhood memories of the first three.

And they haven’t.

(more…)

Turns out, I am not the world’s only Indiana Jones fan. As a kid I would watch the first three Indy films (still sounds weird to say that) endlessly. The Temple of Doom was on TV last night, and S stopped on it for a second just as I came into the room to get something. I knew it was on without even looking at the screen, and I immediately quoted the next line of dialogue before the character had said it. I’ve watched them so many times that they are almost beyond criticism –- but, fortunately for you, dear reader, not quite. However, I have a dilemma. It has occurred to me of late that perhaps the Indiana Jones films, and TofD in particular, are not the out-and-out fun-filled spectacles that I took them to be so many years ago.

(more…)