The Catapocalypse is indeed coming. Terrible, innit?
Man, rabbit and lamb: a party of flavors!
“The cats of Mirikitani”: persistence of vision
“The cats of Mirikitani” – (2006, USA, 74 minutes – documentary)
Sometime around the summer of 2001, film editor Linda Hattendorf develops an interest in 80 year old homeless artist Tsutomu “Jimmy” Mirikitani who accepts to become the subject of her documentary project.
Jimmy’s subjects are mainly cats, tigers and the internment camps where he spent three and a half years, at Tule Lake, California during WWII.
Watch the trailer here:
After the September 11th attacks, which brought forth images reminiscent of the Hiroshima bombing with a city covered in ashes and dust, Hattendorf convinces Jimmy to leave behind his shopping cart and multiple layers of clothing, and move into her apartment.
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Midnight Movie Madness: tentacle difficulties and uncivil serpents
This week, two films which can be broadly characterized as creature features: Mystery Science Theater 3000’s skewering of Lamberto Bava’s “Devil Fish” and Larry Cohen’s “Q: the winged serpent”.
Bava’s “Devil Fish” was ‘remade’ in 2010 for the SyFy channel as “Sharktopus”.
Interestingly, many elements of “Q: the winged serpent” were ‘borrowed’ in 1998’s “Godzilla” as well, but not credited to Cohen…
Doing a review of an MST3K is like reviewing a review, in a way, but “Devil Fish” is so bad that this “commented” version made it much, much more palatable.
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Spoofing old horror: “creatures of the Pink lagoon”
“Creatures of the Pink lagoon” – (2006, USA, 71 minutes – NR)
Sometimes trying to decide on a good movie to review doesn’t mean the movie has to be all that great. I think there should be something interesting about it which doesn’t necessarily figure in the budget number, cast or other factor, since the review is always going to be subjective after all.
And since I’ve been fighting the flu most of the week, with cocktails of Sudafed and Vodka, I got in the mood for some silliness.
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Art in Nature
Ephemeral art can be found everywhere, but in natural settings, the inspiration and effect does seem more meditative. Using stones, bark, pine cones, twigs and whatever else may be readily available, people assemble compositions ranging from intriguing to wistful or even amusing.
This labyrinth created (and recreated several times) by Eduardo Aguilera at Land’s End is a meditative piece, changing as it does from dawn until dusk. In this particular setting, Aguilera’s “shrine” invites contemplation.
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Sunday Spam & cheese breakfast
Cheesy music that is… From our Spam box, a couple doozies:
“I principled present up on some mind-boggling further galvanizing cars that purpose be coming out in the next 3 years that competition my budget and inclination be struck by up to 300 mpg!!!
But I was wondering, how these cars would hold on a row after a ice storm? The pile would be expert recompense me, but i material in the midwest and coerce a jalopy that can get almost ice and snow.
The facts I would like to from is the regular bias an stirring wheels, front/rear wheel pilot, and backing bowels space.”
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“Day of the orchids” and other burgeoning thoughts
In recent months we have made several trips to the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park, at different times of day, in sunny and rainy weather, you name it. This, to observe blooms in different stages and light conditions.
By contrast to the Conservatory, the Strybing arboretum, also in Golden Gate Park, offers open space, leisurely walks and a few exotic species. I originally expected the Conservatory to be a claustrophobic experience, and to be fair, it should be: passages are narrow, the various sections of the building are compartmentalized by double doors with a plaque reminding visitors to shut them.
As well, each section has its carefully calibrated climate control, with a fairly high level of humidity. Virtually every species in the Conservatory is exotic, and striking in more than just appearance.
On our most recent visit, about a week ago, the blooming orchids brought back a singular feeling and thoughts I remember experiencing only once.
I’ve commented before on visiting a Sphynx cattery and the feeling of inquisitive, playful intelligence I felt looking into the cats’ huge eyes.
Photos do not reveal the elegance of the Sphynx in motion, or their seeming lack of fear.
And the more you know about them, the more orchids fascinate the casual observer into similar a form of reverence.
Consider a species estimated to be 120 million years old, striving in wildly different environments on all continents save Antartica, long after innumerable other species of flora and fauna alike disappeared.
A species having developed pollination methods as varied as stealth, smell and mimicry: the pattern on some orchids’ petals looks attractive to flying insects, the slippery tube-like pouch of others lures insects which fall into the opening, collecting pollen as they brush their way past to the exit…
So far, orchids have even survived man’s exploitation, which led to most species of the plant to be on endangered lists. Today, they are specifically cultivated for commercial ends. While it can seem odd to think of intelligence in such a context, I think there are lessons to draw about adaptability and coping with change, not just from orchids, of course, but from Sphynxes as well. Not to mention the enjoyment of their complex aesthetics.
Both orchids and Sphynxes are very much dependent on humans to provide the environment necessary for their survival and continued development, yet I suspect the nature of this relationship is symbiotic rather than… Parasitic.
We stand to gain so much from them…
Photos by Rudha-an
Midnight Movie Madness: “Squirm”
“Squirm” – (1976, USA, 92 minutes – VHS rated PG; DVD rated R)
From the ‘70s, we have in “squirm” yet another “nature strikes back” offering, although this one doesn’t preach, it entertains.
During a severe storm, power lines are downed near the small Georgia town of Fly Creek. As a result of live wires sweeping across the mud, bloodworms crawl out at night to devour the unsuspecting inhabitants of the county.
Watch the trailer here:
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Casting for the future: 3-Dimensional printing
3D printing, the process of layering various materials into objects, appears to be moving mainstream, with new applications, such as printing skin cells for burn patients, as the institute of regenerative medicine at Wake Forest University (NC) has been experimenting with.
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Midnight Movie Madness: “Getting Any?”
“Getting Any?”– (1994, Japan, 108 minutes – no rating)
In modern day Japan, Asao (Dankan) is an ordinary guy in his thirties living with his grandfather. Asao, however, is driven by an obsession to have sex in a car and soon embarks on an extraordinary journey in this comedy from Takeshi “Beat” Kitano.
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