https://jmasca-art.com/
Showing posts with label vampires. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vampires. Show all posts
Monday, October 19, 2020
BEAUTY: Illustration For Halloween--Jorge Mascarenhas
For Halloween, here is the horror story-themed illustrations of Jorge Mascarenhas.
https://jmasca-art.com/
https://jmasca-art.com/
Thursday, June 20, 2019
BEAUTY: Clothing--Undercover
Jun Takahashi at Undercover presented a very unexpected Spring Summer '20 collection at Paris Fashion Week based on...wait for it...Dracula and legendary artist Cindy Sherman's series of self portrait film stills. The train of thought that Takahashi rode in on was the idea that men have in themselves a capacity for violence. But interestingly, this violence took the form of exquisite tailoring. Maybe the devil comes in the form of a very handsome man. This might be another oblique statement on the idea of toxic masculinity...after all, in the United States men commit 90% of all homicides, they commit 80% of all violent crimes, they commit 97% of all mass shootings, and they represent 97.9% of arrests for forcible rape. Men, what the f**k are you doing???
So, is Dracula the ultimate male evil, a man who literally sucks the life from his victims? How much more toxic can a man get? And the presence of Cindy Sherman offers a glimpse of the lone woman, vulnerable and therefore necessarily vigilant? It's all up for interpretation. But we do know that this idea of violent men out of control is something that Takahashi has explored before. For Spring Summer 2019, he showed a collection of eight gang looks based on the 1979 cult film "The Warriors" (here) and for Fall Winter 2019, he showed a frightening collection based on, again, the gang in Kubrick's film "A Clockwork Orange" (here).
But back to the clothing: Look carefully since these black on black pieces hide a lot of detail, especially in a black space on a black stage. I love how Dracula is not seen quite directly but perceived through either satin appliqués or stitching that only outlines both Bela Lugosi's Dracula from 1931 and Max Schrek's earlier vampire from "Nosferatu" in 1922. Some pieces feature spider web stitching. This somehow segues into black and white images of Cindy Sherman, sometimes appliquéd, sometimes outlined, and sometimes outright printed.
http://undercoverism.com/
So, is Dracula the ultimate male evil, a man who literally sucks the life from his victims? How much more toxic can a man get? And the presence of Cindy Sherman offers a glimpse of the lone woman, vulnerable and therefore necessarily vigilant? It's all up for interpretation. But we do know that this idea of violent men out of control is something that Takahashi has explored before. For Spring Summer 2019, he showed a collection of eight gang looks based on the 1979 cult film "The Warriors" (here) and for Fall Winter 2019, he showed a frightening collection based on, again, the gang in Kubrick's film "A Clockwork Orange" (here).
But back to the clothing: Look carefully since these black on black pieces hide a lot of detail, especially in a black space on a black stage. I love how Dracula is not seen quite directly but perceived through either satin appliqués or stitching that only outlines both Bela Lugosi's Dracula from 1931 and Max Schrek's earlier vampire from "Nosferatu" in 1922. Some pieces feature spider web stitching. This somehow segues into black and white images of Cindy Sherman, sometimes appliquéd, sometimes outlined, and sometimes outright printed.
http://undercoverism.com/
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Just watched...
...Jim Jarmusch's "Only Lovers Left Alive," which was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.
Vampires have been filmed ad nauseum yet our collective fascination with them continues. And Jarmusch has added a very nice, thoughtful entry into the genre with his "Only Lovers Left Alive" starring the ethereal and outrageously talented Tilda Swinton and charismatic Tom Hiddleston, both perfectly cast.
Eve and Adam are married vampires, centuries old, and living apart...he in Detroit and she in Tangier. We get the sense that they are not living apart from any kind of strife but more from a kind of wandering, and when one is centuries old, what is a little separation of a decade or few? It might seem more like a few weeks. A sense of time would certainly have to be altered if one were a vampire. But these two still love each other, tremendously. One has the feeling that, yes, they might be the only true lovers left on the planet.
Indeed, there are a lot of interesting and thought-provoking ideas in this film. I do like the vampire genre and have read all the requisite books and seen all the films, but I don't think I have ever encountered such a portrayal of vampires or pondered these particular ideas presented in this film. Generally, vampires are portrayed as powerful creatures, but although Eve and Adam may be able to move much faster than humanly possible (indicating some form of superior strength) they are shown to be anything but powerful. They are trapped in a prison--not able to be in the sun, of course (an established fact of vampire lore), and not only trapped in time (unable to age, and therefore unable to move through life, as we have seen in many vampire stories in the past), but (and this one is a new idea) trapped in a kind of cultural/social exile. What if all one wanted to do was to write plays or symphonies, or invent new engines and machinery...and what if one were very good at it...and what if, because of one's centuries of accrued knowledge, one was actually quite brilliant--a genius? How could one possibly publish or perform or patent being a vampire afraid of discovery? What if the thing that fueled your soul and drove your creativity prevented any kind of recognition for or sharing of that thing? It is a supremely sad, isolating idea to ponder.
But back to this idea of immortality and time sluicing through this world like a flood, dragging everyone along with it but you, if you were a vampire: it is a wonderful metaphoric touch that Jarmusch chose Tangier and Detroit as the cities in which his vampires live. Tangier is ancient and bears the marks of time and civilizations as it is swallowed up by shifting sands. And it is no accident that Adam lives--or hides--in Detroit, a city that is all but destroyed at the start of our twenty-first century...a dead city, a place that time and people have used up, a shadow, an empty echo. And this sums up the feel of the entire film. Adam and Eve are lonely vampires, full of centuries of literature, music, art, culture, weary from the ability to see cultures and societies come and go...to be forced to witness the destruction of these things by time as well as the destruction of the planet and humankind by our own hand. What is the helplessness, the resignation--you can't stop it, you can't prevent it, you can't change it--that would come from being witness to all this? In the film, it adds up to a melancholy, bittersweet tone poem, the kind written by the French Symbolists. Or as Sting so poignantly noted, "When the world is running down/ You make the best of what's still around." Maybe it is not so different from being a human being witnessing it all...
Recommend? Yes. But be warned: Not much happens in this film, but it doesn't have to. It is an exploration of a mood, a feeling, a situation, a texture. And it is quietly lovely.
http://onlyloversleftalivefilm.tumblr.com/
Vampires have been filmed ad nauseum yet our collective fascination with them continues. And Jarmusch has added a very nice, thoughtful entry into the genre with his "Only Lovers Left Alive" starring the ethereal and outrageously talented Tilda Swinton and charismatic Tom Hiddleston, both perfectly cast.
Eve and Adam are married vampires, centuries old, and living apart...he in Detroit and she in Tangier. We get the sense that they are not living apart from any kind of strife but more from a kind of wandering, and when one is centuries old, what is a little separation of a decade or few? It might seem more like a few weeks. A sense of time would certainly have to be altered if one were a vampire. But these two still love each other, tremendously. One has the feeling that, yes, they might be the only true lovers left on the planet.
Indeed, there are a lot of interesting and thought-provoking ideas in this film. I do like the vampire genre and have read all the requisite books and seen all the films, but I don't think I have ever encountered such a portrayal of vampires or pondered these particular ideas presented in this film. Generally, vampires are portrayed as powerful creatures, but although Eve and Adam may be able to move much faster than humanly possible (indicating some form of superior strength) they are shown to be anything but powerful. They are trapped in a prison--not able to be in the sun, of course (an established fact of vampire lore), and not only trapped in time (unable to age, and therefore unable to move through life, as we have seen in many vampire stories in the past), but (and this one is a new idea) trapped in a kind of cultural/social exile. What if all one wanted to do was to write plays or symphonies, or invent new engines and machinery...and what if one were very good at it...and what if, because of one's centuries of accrued knowledge, one was actually quite brilliant--a genius? How could one possibly publish or perform or patent being a vampire afraid of discovery? What if the thing that fueled your soul and drove your creativity prevented any kind of recognition for or sharing of that thing? It is a supremely sad, isolating idea to ponder.
But back to this idea of immortality and time sluicing through this world like a flood, dragging everyone along with it but you, if you were a vampire: it is a wonderful metaphoric touch that Jarmusch chose Tangier and Detroit as the cities in which his vampires live. Tangier is ancient and bears the marks of time and civilizations as it is swallowed up by shifting sands. And it is no accident that Adam lives--or hides--in Detroit, a city that is all but destroyed at the start of our twenty-first century...a dead city, a place that time and people have used up, a shadow, an empty echo. And this sums up the feel of the entire film. Adam and Eve are lonely vampires, full of centuries of literature, music, art, culture, weary from the ability to see cultures and societies come and go...to be forced to witness the destruction of these things by time as well as the destruction of the planet and humankind by our own hand. What is the helplessness, the resignation--you can't stop it, you can't prevent it, you can't change it--that would come from being witness to all this? In the film, it adds up to a melancholy, bittersweet tone poem, the kind written by the French Symbolists. Or as Sting so poignantly noted, "When the world is running down/ You make the best of what's still around." Maybe it is not so different from being a human being witnessing it all...
Recommend? Yes. But be warned: Not much happens in this film, but it doesn't have to. It is an exploration of a mood, a feeling, a situation, a texture. And it is quietly lovely.
http://onlyloversleftalivefilm.tumblr.com/
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Monday, May 21, 2012
Just finished reading...
...DEADLOCKED, the twelfth installment of the Sookie Stackhouse series.
I have read all of Charlaine Harris' Sookie books which are the basis for HBO's wildly popular series "True Blood." And I have watched every episode of "True Blood" but creator Alan Ball ("Six Feet Under") has deviated significantly from Harris' narrative. The consequence for my poor imagination is that these two parallel worlds bleed together in my head. When watching the TV show, one thing I do miss is the amateur detective/Nancy Drew quality of the books. Sookie is always presented with a crime and a mystery that needs to be solved. True, most of them involve her, but that makes the need to solve the mystery all the more urgent. And this most recent book has Sookie trying to figure out a murder. Of course the deeper she digs, the more she learns of plots and schemes around her, some that betray her trust.
Harris has said that DEADLOCKED is the second to last Sookie book that will be written. She intends to stop at thirteen (pun intended, I am sure). And although she solves the immediate murder and plots that involve her supernatural family, this book leaves Sookie in limbo with her love life. A constant thread through all the books has been Sookie's relationship with first Bill Compton, vampire, and then with a succession of werewolves, were-tigers, and another vampire. Sookie is such a likable, sweet character, and we end up rooting for her to find happiness.
The series is meant to be fun and this book is the light, speedy read that all the other books are. This is not gourmet literature, it is a hamburger and fries and a cold lemonade on a hot summer day.
Recommend? Sure, if you have read all the other Sookie books. If you haven't, give them a try. They are fluffy and entertaining.
http://www.charlaineharris.com/
I have read all of Charlaine Harris' Sookie books which are the basis for HBO's wildly popular series "True Blood." And I have watched every episode of "True Blood" but creator Alan Ball ("Six Feet Under") has deviated significantly from Harris' narrative. The consequence for my poor imagination is that these two parallel worlds bleed together in my head. When watching the TV show, one thing I do miss is the amateur detective/Nancy Drew quality of the books. Sookie is always presented with a crime and a mystery that needs to be solved. True, most of them involve her, but that makes the need to solve the mystery all the more urgent. And this most recent book has Sookie trying to figure out a murder. Of course the deeper she digs, the more she learns of plots and schemes around her, some that betray her trust.
Harris has said that DEADLOCKED is the second to last Sookie book that will be written. She intends to stop at thirteen (pun intended, I am sure). And although she solves the immediate murder and plots that involve her supernatural family, this book leaves Sookie in limbo with her love life. A constant thread through all the books has been Sookie's relationship with first Bill Compton, vampire, and then with a succession of werewolves, were-tigers, and another vampire. Sookie is such a likable, sweet character, and we end up rooting for her to find happiness.
The series is meant to be fun and this book is the light, speedy read that all the other books are. This is not gourmet literature, it is a hamburger and fries and a cold lemonade on a hot summer day.
Recommend? Sure, if you have read all the other Sookie books. If you haven't, give them a try. They are fluffy and entertaining.
http://www.charlaineharris.com/
Monday, May 9, 2011
Just finished reading...
...the eleventh book in the Sookie Stackhouse series, DEAD RECKONING by Charlaine Harris.
Sookie gets drawn deeper into the shifting, dangerous and petty world of vampire politics. Her relationship with Eric is threatened by an arranged marriage he can’t get out of. Sookie learns more about her deceased grandmother’s double life, her fae family, fae culture, and—shockingly—how she came to be telepathic, all while dispatching the featured “bad guys” of this installment. But it all takes its toll on Sookie who is growing harder—out of necessity. This is another quick romp through the supernatural world by Charlaine Harris, and despite the wear and tear on Sookie, the tone retains its lightness and fun and even, at times, humor. I like the amateur detective-who-dunnit aspect of the whole series which is something I miss from Alan Ball’s otherwise excellent HBO adaptation, “True Blood.”
Recommend? Yes, but if you haven’t, read them all in order. Start with one and work your way through…
http://www.charlaineharris.com/
Sookie gets drawn deeper into the shifting, dangerous and petty world of vampire politics. Her relationship with Eric is threatened by an arranged marriage he can’t get out of. Sookie learns more about her deceased grandmother’s double life, her fae family, fae culture, and—shockingly—how she came to be telepathic, all while dispatching the featured “bad guys” of this installment. But it all takes its toll on Sookie who is growing harder—out of necessity. This is another quick romp through the supernatural world by Charlaine Harris, and despite the wear and tear on Sookie, the tone retains its lightness and fun and even, at times, humor. I like the amateur detective-who-dunnit aspect of the whole series which is something I miss from Alan Ball’s otherwise excellent HBO adaptation, “True Blood.”
Recommend? Yes, but if you haven’t, read them all in order. Start with one and work your way through…
http://www.charlaineharris.com/
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Just finished reading...
...DEAD IN THE FAMILY, the tenth novel in the Sookie Stackhouse series, by Charlaine Harris.
Thankfully, I started reading Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series before HBO premiered its hit show "True Blood," based on the very same books. In case you have been living under a rock, this story about a telepathic human girl (Sookie) and vampires in rural Bon Temps, Louisiana has been a runaway hit for HBO. Created by Alan Ball (he of the amazing "Six Feet Under," one of the best things on television ever), it brings to life all of the characters and situations in the Harris novels—and then some. But what the televised series doesn’t capture is the detective novel-feel of the books. Sookie may be telepathic, and there may be vampires, werewolves, shape shifters, witches, fairies and demons but ultimately, each book starts with some kind of whodunit that requires Sookie to use her powers and wits, along with help from her supernatural allies, to figure out.
Having said that, as the novels have progressed, the story has too. We have learned more and more about Sookie’s family origins, and relationships with vampires and werewolves have deepened and become more complicated so that the whodunit element has been moved to the back burner. Now Sookie must find out who is planning on doing something… to her. There is still a light element, almost kitschy (which is certainly part of the charm of the series), but this novel feels much more serious than any preceding it. It feels like the middle book of a trilogy where the plot has been set up, and now we have to delve into the how and why before we reach the final installment. Contributing to the heavier feel is the development of Sookie herself who has evolved from an outwardly happy-go-lucky Southern gal to someone with figurative and literal battle scars, and most likely some Post Traumatic Stress symptoms.
Recommend? Absolutely. And just like the Harry Dresden series I reviewed here, you really have to start at the beginning to learn all about the major players (those still in the series but especially those who have passed on) and what has happened. But don’t worry: it is fast reading. You’ll be caught up in no time. It’s tremendous fun!
http://www.charlaineharris.com/
Thankfully, I started reading Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series before HBO premiered its hit show "True Blood," based on the very same books. In case you have been living under a rock, this story about a telepathic human girl (Sookie) and vampires in rural Bon Temps, Louisiana has been a runaway hit for HBO. Created by Alan Ball (he of the amazing "Six Feet Under," one of the best things on television ever), it brings to life all of the characters and situations in the Harris novels—and then some. But what the televised series doesn’t capture is the detective novel-feel of the books. Sookie may be telepathic, and there may be vampires, werewolves, shape shifters, witches, fairies and demons but ultimately, each book starts with some kind of whodunit that requires Sookie to use her powers and wits, along with help from her supernatural allies, to figure out.
Having said that, as the novels have progressed, the story has too. We have learned more and more about Sookie’s family origins, and relationships with vampires and werewolves have deepened and become more complicated so that the whodunit element has been moved to the back burner. Now Sookie must find out who is planning on doing something… to her. There is still a light element, almost kitschy (which is certainly part of the charm of the series), but this novel feels much more serious than any preceding it. It feels like the middle book of a trilogy where the plot has been set up, and now we have to delve into the how and why before we reach the final installment. Contributing to the heavier feel is the development of Sookie herself who has evolved from an outwardly happy-go-lucky Southern gal to someone with figurative and literal battle scars, and most likely some Post Traumatic Stress symptoms.
Recommend? Absolutely. And just like the Harry Dresden series I reviewed here, you really have to start at the beginning to learn all about the major players (those still in the series but especially those who have passed on) and what has happened. But don’t worry: it is fast reading. You’ll be caught up in no time. It’s tremendous fun!
http://www.charlaineharris.com/
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