"Do You Know Me Now?" by David Sylvian

Starting tomorrow, we will be celebrating National Poetry Month where the blog will be turned over exclusively to poetry (except for a little bit of Easter beauty). And to help us slip into the poetry mindset, let's listen to an absolutely entrancing song by the amazing David Sylvian (previously here). This song, "Do You Know Me Now?" is a sublime combination of words and music... his voice simply gets better with age. And his turn of phrase and use of melody is stunning. Thank you for your music, David.

And if you think you knew me then
You don't know me now
As the ground rose up to meet me
I kissed your mouth
You wore your boredom like an armor
But I tuned you out
And if that brought us to our knees
We laughed all the way down
I prized my daddy's ring from my hand
And I made a bride
We grew a flower in the desert
We grew terrified
We were one, not one and the same
Something was lost somehow
And if you think you knew me then
You don't know me now

The planets high above you
Spun in houses of their own
You were dropped and hit the ground running
But they failed to lead you home

And if you think you knew me then
Do you know me now?
I drew a child inside a womb
Justified myself
I stole the face of joy, the perfume of wealth
I atomised the boy within before he cut himself
You found the blood upon my clothes
And you washed it out
And if you think you knew me then
You don't know me now

There were children in the classroom
Erected without a nail
There were hornets in the heads of cattle
That vibrated to the sound

You cried wolf
I tracked one down and let it in
There were lambs, sure there was blood
There were psalms to sing
You could just see the bone jut out
Penetrate the skin
Did it dispel beyond all doubt the mess we're in?
You raised your head
I stared you down
You still don't know how
And if you think you knew me then
You don't know me now

I was happy, satiated
I was satisfied

http://www.davidsylvian.com/

Sant Ambroeus at Brookfield Place

Started in Milan in 1936, the Sant Ambroeus restaurant family consists of four New York City locations, with outposts in South Hampton and Palm Beach...and now the newest member of the family is at Brookfield Place in lower Manhattan. Designed by Robert McKinley to echo Italy's impressive theaters and resplendent 18th- and 19th-century cafés, the space features a very Milanese sensibility with gorgeous papaya-colored silk moiré walls and a staggering eighteen foot high, 992-pound Murano glass chandelier. The designer was especially struck by the modernist grandeur of Turin’s Teatro Regio, rebuilt by architect Carlo Mollino in the late 1960s. Why not combine that vibe with something as New York as the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, McKinley reasoned? The result feels like an Art Nouveau version of La Scala crossed with the modernism of Le Corbusier.

https://www.santambroeus.com/
https://www.santambroeus.com/restaurant-sant-ambroeus-brookfield-place

"Twin Souls" by Lutrell

From the current reigning king of electronic dance music, this is the bubbly and epic "Twin Souls" by Lutrell.

"Could we ever flow together?

Or are we two twin souls finding each other at the wrong lifetime?"

https://soundcloud.com/luttrellmusic

Waterside Buddhist Shrine

Your moment of Zen: Beijing-based practice Archstudio designed the minimalist "Waterside Buddhist Shrine" in the northern Chinese province of Hebei as an immersive experience close to nature. The entire interior is located under a hillside next to a river and is formed from cast-in-place concrete using one inch pine strips to give the walls a beautiful, organic texture. The Buddhist altar is situated under a canted skylight and the curved back wall channels light down into the area. The tea-drinking area in front of the Buddhist altar faces the river and features a low table with floor cushions and carved modern back rests.

http://www.archstudio.cn/works/detail/1270998765691473920

BEAUTY: Clothing--Rick Owens

I think I am secretly hoping that Rick Owens does not go back to traditional runway shows once the pandemic is over, but instead continues staging and filming these amazing site-specific shows in moody, atmospheric locations. It is the equivalent of a stage play being made into a film...freed from the confines of a venue (and the tether to a physical audience), the film can go on location anywhere!

This is the FW '21 women's show of his GETHSEMENE collection (in January I posted the men's version here) and the garments look fantastic billowing and blowing in the wind on this cement pier on the Lido in Venice. I adore the Brutalist puffy capes (what Owens calls "architectural bulldozers"), the long sheath dresses with--wait for it--fishtail bottoms (!), the general silhouettes as always, and of course the fact that his models continue to rock those phenomenal perspex platform heels! 

Rick's show notes:
GETHSEMANE WAS THE GARDEN JESUS PRAYED IN THE NIGHT BEFORE THE CRUCIFIXION; A PLACE OF UNEASY REPOSE AND DISQUIET BEFORE A FINAL RECKONING. WE’VE ALL BEEN LIVING A TENSE PERIOD IN HISTORY WAITING FOR A RESOLUTION, BE IT CATASTROPHIC OR RATIONAL, IN A SUSPENSE THAT FEELS ALMOST BIBLICAL IN ITS DRAMA.
MY GARDEN IS THE BEACH IN FRONT OF MY HOME ON VENICE’S LIDO. MY PANDEMIC RUNWAY SHOWS HAVE ALL BEEN ON THE LIDO — A 2-HOUR DRIVE FROM MY FACTORY IN CONCORDIA AND A SMALLER FOOTPRINT, PARED-DOWN, NO AUDIENCE, HOME-BASED MOOD THAT FEELS SUITABLE FOR THE MOMENT. THIS REDUCTION IN IMPORTED HAIR AND MAKEUP AND PRODUCTION ARMIES HAS ALLOWED THESE SHOWS TO TURN INTO PRIVATE CEREMONIES SHARED BY OUR SMALL CONCORDIA TEAM FROM CONCEPTION TO CLIMAX, ALLOWING US TO CONNECT IN A WHOLE NEW WAY AFTER 15 YEARS OF PARIS SHOWS.
SKIN-TIGHT LEATHER BODYSUITS UNDERPIN MOST LOOKS, SOME WITH THE TOP PULLED DOWN TO HANG OFF THE HIPS. SOME ARE SOLIDLY SEQUINED. I’VE BEEN FEATURING BODYSUITS FOR SOME SEASONS NOW, ORIGINALLY AS MONUMENTALLY IMPOSING STIFF VOLUMES BUT GRADUALLY REDUCING TO THEIR CURRENT INCARNATION — SELF-CONTAINED AND SEALED BODY COVERINGS LIKE AN UPHOLSTERED GEAR SHIFT KNOB.
THESE ARE TOPPED BY POWER SHOULDER CAPES THAT TURN THE BODY INTO ARCHITECTURAL BULLDOZERS, OR POWER SHOULDER BOMBERS MOCKING MALE AGGRESSION AND CONSERVATISM CAREENING OFF THE RAILS THAT WAS THE FOCUS OF MY MEN’S SHOW IN JANUARY — COINCIDING WITH THE SHOCKING EVENTS IN WASHINGTON.
THESE SHOULDERS ARE A RESPONSE TO FEAR AND ANXIETY; DEFIANCE IN THE FACE OF THREAT. I HAVE SHOWN MASKS WITH THESE PANDEMIC SHOWS NOT BECAUSE MY MASKS ARE GUARANTEED PROTECTION, BUT BECAUSE THEY ARE A VOTE FOR RESPONSIBILITY AND CONSIDERATION AND AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF OUR IMMEDIATE COLLECTIVE EXPERIENCE.
TAILORED JKTS MADE FROM RECYCLED PLASTIC WASTE ARE CROPPED WITH THE SLEEVES RIPPED OFF AND REPLACED WITH JUMBO DUVET SNAP-ON SLEEVES.
IN THE BIBLE, THE RENDING OF ONES GARMENTS IS AN ACT OF GRIEF OR RAGE — TO VIOLENTLY TEAR THE CLOTHES ONE IS WEARING APART. THIS IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SLASHED BLACK DENIM PIECES IN THE COLLECTION, MIRRORED IN THE SLASHED GRAPHICS RENDERED IN BY- PRODUCT SHEARLINGS AND COWHIDES PATCHWORKED INTO COATS AND JACKETS.
NARROW BACKLESS LONG-SLEEVED SHEATH GOWNS ARE CUT IN HEAVY VISCOSE KNIT, SEQUINS, OR BLACK OVERDYED DENIM. LIKE THE BODYSUITS, THEIR TOPS ARE OFTEN PULLED DOWN TO HANG OFF THE HIPS AND WORN WITH A T-SHIRT.
RUCHED AND SEQUINED THONGS ARE WORN OVER RECYCLED CASHMERE BODYSUITS TO ADD A LURID FLOURISH TO MATTER-OF-FACT AND PRACTICAL MODESTY. THESE RECYCLED CASHMERE YARNS ARE ALSO KNIT INTO HEAVY SWEATERS, PULLED UP TO DOUBLE ON THE TORSO, AND ROOMY BLANKET-SIZED HOODED ROBES. BIBLICAL. THESE HOODED ROBES ARE REPEATED IN TENT-SIZED DUVET OR SEQUIN ENCRUSTED DENIM.

THE PENTA-BRIEFS FROM THE LAST MEN’S SHOW THAT SPOKE OF UNHINGED MALE AGGRESSION ARE WRAPPED AROUND SIMPLE COWHIDE ENVELOPES TO BE WORN AS A WOMAN’S EVENING CLUTCH.
HEAVY WORK SHIRTS WORN OVER GOWNS COME IN 16OZ BLACK WARP/BLACK WEFT/BLACK SELVEDGE DENIM CUSTOM WOVEN FOR US BY YAMAASHI ORIMONO (EST. 1945) ON VINTAGE SAKAMOTO SHUTTLE LOOMS. THIS IS FROM AN ONGOING DRKSHDW CAPSULE MADE IN JAPAN.
SOUNDTRACK IS AN EXCLUSIVE EXTENDED REMIX OF ‘SQUEEZE’ BY GHOSTEMANE, WHO ALSO SOUNDTRACKED OUR LAST MEN’S SHOW THAT SPOKE ABOUT MALE SUPPRESSED RAGE ON EVERY SIDE OF THE MORAL DIVIDE... BUT OF COURSE, SUPPRESSED RAGE IS NOT EXCLUSIVELY MALE.

https://www.rickowens.eu/

"Blue Moves" by Elton John

In the space of three years, between 1973 and 1975, Elton John released five career-defining albums. He and lyricist Bernie Taupin were at the height of their powers, creating the double album "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" featuring the iconic "Candle In The Wind" and "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting," the album "Caribou" with the unforgettable "The B*itch Is Back" and the epic, tragic "Ticking," the autobiographical album "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy," and finally "Rock of the Westies" which felt a little like a continuation of "Captain Fantastic." They were all stellar albums full of great songs and #1 hits. I was a kid then, and a huge Elton John fan... each of those albums was bought for me for Christmas or my birthday (thanks mom and dad!). But the album immediately following, 1976's "Blue Moves" was in a way, a sort of crown on the previous run of albums. It is moody, dense, and a culmination of the songwriting that came before it. It remains an underrated album (with its cover by British artist Patrick Proctor, previously here) but I think one of his best. Like the cover, the entire album is an intriguing, layered oil painting. Here are some marvelously crafted and orchestrated tracks that stand out for me.

https://www.eltonjohn.com/

"You Learn" by Alanis Morissette and Elizabeth Stanley

I have always had a soft spot for Alanis Morissette's 1995 album "Jagged Little Pill" because of songs like this, "You Learn," written, astonishingly, when she was a young and tender 19 year old. The entire album features ideas, emotions, and psychology well beyond anyone's 19 years. But then, there are those old souls who know a lot at a young age.

This duet between Morissette and Elizabeth Stanley (star of "Jagged Little Pill," Morissette's Broadway adaptation of her album) revisits this lovely, tender, wise song. Morissette still sounds marvelous and powerful, and Stanley's voice is spectacular.

I recommend getting your heart trampled on to anyone (yeah)
I recommend walking around naked in your living room (yeah)
Swallow it down (what a jagged little pill)
It feels so good (swimming in your stomach)
Wait until the dust settles

You live you learn
You love you learn
You cry you learn
You lose you learn
You bleed you learn
You scream you learn

I recommend biting off more then you can chew to anyone
(I certainly do)
I recommend sticking your foot in your mouth at any time
(feel free)
Throw it down (the caution blocks you from the wind)
Hold it up (to the rays)
You wait and see when the smoke clears

You live you learn
You love you learn
You cry you learn
You lose you learn
You bleed you learn
You scream you learn

Wear it out (the way a three-year-old would do)
Melt it down (you're gonna have to eventually anyway)
The fire trucks are coming up around the bend

You live you learn
You love you learn
You cry you learn
You lose you learn
You bleed you learn
You scream you learn
You grieve you learn
You choke you learn
You laugh you learn
You choose you learn
You pray you learn
You ask you learn
You live you learn

And I am thrilled that Morissette threw in the chorus from another of her stunningly mature songs, "Thank U," from her follow up album "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie" in 1998. She wrote the song after a trip to India. Morissette said, "Basically, I had never stopped in my whole life, hadn't taken a long breath, and I took a year and a half off and basically learned how to do that. When I did stop and I was silent and I breathed... I was just left with an immense amount of gratitude, and inspiration, and love, and bliss, and that's where the song came from, you know." Take a look at the video which is a literal manifestation of baring one's soul to the world. The visuals (people emerging out of the blur of daily life to stop, touch her, and look into her eyes, to make a genuine connection) and metaphysical sense of the video move me to tears. There's a lot of enormity in these four minutes and nineteen seconds.

How 'bout getting off of these antibiotics?
How 'bout stopping eating when I'm full up?
How 'bout them transparent dangling carrots?
How 'bout that ever elusive kudo?

Thank you India
Thank you terror
Thank you disillusionment
Thank you frailty
Thank you consequence
Thank you thank you silence

How 'bout me not blaming you for everything?
How 'bout me enjoying the moment for once?
How 'bout how good it feels to finally forgive you?
How 'bout grieving it all one at a time?

Thank you India
Thank you terror
Thank you disillusionment
Thank you frailty
Thank you consequence
Thank you thank you silence

The moment I let go of it was the moment
I got more than I could handle
The moment I jumped off of it
Was the moment I touched down

How 'bout no longer being masochistic?
How 'bout remembering your divinity?
How 'bout unabashedly bawling your eyes out?
How 'bout not equating death with stopping?

Thank you India
Thank you providence
Thank you disillusionment
Thank you nothingness
Thank you clarity
Thank you, thank you silence

https://alanis.com/

And the Broadway show of "Jagged Little Pill" has garnered 15 Tony awards!
https://jaggedlittlepill.com/

Just watched...

..."Mank" by David Fincher, up for TEN Academy Awards this season!

Shot in a glorious, rich grey-range palette of black and white, David Fincher's film starring Gary Oldman as screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz is a--well, not a love letter to Hollywood as Hollywood is fond of dubbing films that look back at its own history, and not really a bitter poison pen letter, but more of an examination of Old (and who knows, probably Current) Hollywood with all of its treachery, manipulative moguls, infighting, and influence of the political landscape.

We follow screenwriter Mankiewicz (Mank as he likes to be called) as he writes the screenplay for Orson Welles' legendary film "Citizen Kane." Holed up at the North Verde Ranch near the Mojave Desert, kept away from his beloved alcohol by a secretary and nurse, he toils away creating something that would forever change the film world and the way directors and cinematographers make films. We often jump back in time to fill in gaps of the story, much the way "Citizen Kane" does. And that is not the only nod to that classic: much of the framing, lighting, and camera work is a breathtaking homage to some of the deep focus work of "Kane" cinematographer Gregg Toland.

Gary Oldman is brilliant as Mank, with a stunning, casual way of dropping drunken wit in a vocal delivery pitch prefect for the period.  Charles Dance is perfection as William Randolph Hearst, and Arliss Howard is beautifully weaselly as studio head Louis B. Mayer. But it's the women--Amanda Seyfried as Hearst's wife Marion Davies, Lily Collins as Rita Alexander, Herman's secretary, and Tuppence Middleton as Mank's wife Sara Mankiewicz--who shine despite the fact that their characters are not developed and their roles are smaller. But what's new, right? Well, it is Mank's story after all. Maybe someday someone will make a film from Marion or Sara's points of view. But until then, we have this brilliant slice of Hollywood history, even though it tells the story of the "Kane" script from a rather one-sided view, supporting film journalist Pauline Kael's assertion that Welles did not deserve any writing credit. While the real-life process of writing the script was laborious and a little fraught, it seems all parties contributed (unlike what we see in this film), despite Mank threatening to go to the Screen Writer's Guild to file for credit. Turns out there was no need as Welles happily gave him first billing on that title card.

Recommend? YES! Gorgeous to watch (take a peek at the trailer below) and superb performances!

https://www.netflix.com/title/81117189

Why you can't compare Covid-19 vaccines: What a vaccine's "efficacy rate" actually means

Nicely and clearly explained: why all the vaccines will work...if people will just take them!

https://www.vox.com/

Just watched...

..."The Father" with Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman.

Regular readers know I am a SAG member and it is award season which means that I get a slew of "For Your Consideration" films in my mail box, with nary enough time to watch them all. But I made a point of starting my award season viewing with this film, "The Father."

And regular readers also know that when I write about a film I have seen or a book I have read, I don't like to give any spoilers. I believe that such pieces of art should be experienced how the artist (screenwriter, director, author, actor) intended it to be. The story, whether filmed or written, unfolds as it does for a reason. Information comes when it should, and the narrative happens to recreate an idea or emotion in us, the audience. But I simply can't write anything about "The Father" without spoilers. So if you have not seen the film yet, and you wish to, please do not read on.

The film in its whole is astonishing. In all aspects. But if we break it down, the foundation is clearly the miraculous script. Not only is the writing stellar, but it is the structure of the script that is, dare I say it, revolutionary. As you probably know, the story is about a daughter dealing with the challenge of her ageing father's progressing dementia. But instead of placing our point of view with the daughter, or even an objective, remote point of view, we are placed inside the father...completely subjectively seeing and experiencing the events of the story. And this is the astonishing part of the film: we are allowed to feel the confusion, the fear of, and anger at the shifting, surreal, dreamlike world around us. The father's view point is our solid starting point and all we can do, like him, is watch with suspicion and confusion as people and locations change around us without any explanation. 

It's easy to watch someone suffer from dementia (I say that from the point of view of a film of course...I know it is not easy at all to watch a loved one suffer from dementia), from the outside. We can look at the petulant behavior, the stubbornness, the outbursts, and think that, on some level, they are simply acting childish, or perhaps even spiteful. But this film allows us to see that, of course, one would think one is being tricked, duped, cheated...to have someone stand in front of you and claim they are your daughter or son or wife or husband when you know for a fact they are not is disorienting. I can see how someone with dementia could be driven to a rage with such perceived, unexplained treachery.

And because of this, we feel this betrayal, confusion, anger, and eventually sadness at not being able to control all the lies being told. The script shows this story in a not-quite-linear progression: we begin in the father's flat, but after he drives away anyone who is hired by his daughter to care for him, he is moved to his daughter's flat. But in a stroke of genius on the part of the filmmakers (Florian Zeller directed this film adaptation, co-written by Sir Christopher Hampton, from his original stage play), the daughter's flat is laid out exactly like the father's, a doppelgänger, a replica, only with a few small changes: the furniture is slightly different, the wall colors are different. In some scenes, the contents of the flat are packed up and ready to move. But then, confusingly, we return to the father's or daughter's flat. We are introduced to a man who may or not be the daughter's current or ex-husband, and another man who may or may not be the daughter's current love interest with whom his daughter may or may not be moving to Paris. Locations and faces and identities shift until we end up, heartbreakingly, at a place where the father is disconnected and broken.

And none of this would pack the emotional and psychogenic punch it does without the mastery and breathtaking skill of Sir Anthony Hopkins who never plays the situation, and Olivia Colman who plays the emotional tightrope walk of living with so much instability. It is an extraordinary film.

Recommend? Absolutely.

 

https://www.sonyclassics.com/film/thefather

Happy Spring Equinox 2021!

 Happy Spring Equinox 2021!

The day and night are of equal length today. Perfect symmetry.

BEAUTY: Painting--Martta García Ramo

In her series, Invisible, artist Martta García Ramo plays with the idea of people seen and unseen. It is a fascinating idea to ponder, one that can verge on heartbreaking...I am thinking of all the people in the world who feel invisible, for whatever reason, because of race or sex or age or body shape/function... and the people who feel invisible because of what is on the inside. And then there are the things that we deliberately keep hidden and invisible from others, our past, our secrets, our pain or suffering...

https://www.marttagarciaramo.com/

So Far, So Good...

https://www.redbubble.com/i/sticker/The-Sun-Came-Up-Today-by-carlitasart/48753652.EJUG5

The Historic Tale Construction Kit of Bayeux

The Bayeux Tapestry, created sometime in the 1070s, is an embroidered cloth nearly 230 feet long and 20 inches tall that depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy, and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings. It tells the story from the point of view of the conquering Normans but is now agreed to have been made in England. The artefact has survived time and wars, and is now displayed at the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux.

And now you can create your very own ancient tapestry by using the Bayeux Historic Tale Construction Kit! You can choose from figures from the actual tapestry like warriors, townsfolk, animals, buildings, and trees.

And you can finish it with a pithy or witty comment (or some song lyrics) to add extra gravitas or humor.

Bayeux Historic Tale Generator here:

http://htck.github.io/bayeux/#!/

And the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in Bayeux, Normandy, France here: 

https://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/en/the-bayeux-tapestry/