Available on netflix VICTORIA, a german thriller, though much of the dialogue is english.  Impressive camera work - the entire picture done in one take and takes place in "real time" - but I wonder why they made the movie without cuts, it wasn't any stronger because it didn't have them. Cuts are what makes cinema cinema, dammit!
The acting is quire good and the writer gives nice details to the characters.  A great scene at the 30 min mark is followed by a big shift in the story and the movie goes in an unexpected direction, for me anyway. Ultimately the story is boilerplate but I think it's a pretty good movie,  I'll probably watch it again.

embrace of the serpent - anyone see this?

At once blistering and poetic, the ravages of colonialism cast a dark shadow over the South American landscape in EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT, the third feature by Ciro Guerra. Filmed in stunning black-and-white, SERPENT centers on Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and the last survivor of his people, and the two scientists who, over the course of 40 years, build a friendship with him. The film was inspired by the real-life journals of two explorers (Theodor Koch-Grünberg and Richard Evans Schultes) who traveled through the Colombian Amazon during the last century in search of the sacred and difficult-to-find psychedelic Yakruna plant.

2016 haircut executed! 

its national crabmeat day and national meatball day. isnt it time we put a stop to all of this marketing madness?!? or not. go ahead. eat your crabmeat meatballs. see if i care.

bought a bunch of american apparel t-shirts via some wholesale site. paid $8 instead of retail $18. they were snug to begin with but after a couple of washes the one ive worn was suddenly midriff bearing and not one worth bearing. i dont doubt the laundromat uses too much heat in washer and dryer as this is not my first go round with shrinkage but i chalk that up to the cost of not doing it myself. in actuality, i would ruin more clothes than they do for sure. so i looked it up. i guess some shrinkage is inevitable for these shirts but i was surprised when i measured that it was at least three inches off the bottom compared to an unworn, unwashed one. only one option, diet & exercise size up.

Fruit Walls

http://gawker.com/high-elf-high-on-acid-attacks-womans-bmw-with-a-sword-1579493237

Lust for life drawing

Tom Cruise playing Barry Seal? Bourne director at the helm? Strange days. Make of it what you will, but it's something...

 

Cornelius Cardew was a fascinating figure. Both in his life, and through his music, he posed questions with which I find myself in equal sympathy and conflict. He is undeniably one of the most important figures in the Post-War British avant-garde. Cardew, by all accounts, was a prodigy. During his early twenties he worked at the highest levels of performance. In 1958 (age 22) he won a scholarship to study at the Studio for Electronic Music in Cologne, and was promptly asked by Karlheinz Stockhausen to serve as his assistant. Stockhausen’s recollections of Cardew are drenched in respect. He was one of the few people whom he allowed to work on his scores unsupervised. During the late 50’s, influenced by John Cage and other members of his generation, Cardew abandoned Serialism and began to compose scores utilizing indeterminacy and experiment. It was this period of his work for which he is most remembered, and from which Treatise (our subject) comes. In 1967 he joined the iconic free-improvisation collective AMM with Lou Gare, Eddie Prévost, Keith Rowe and Christopher Hobbs, which advanced his sense of compositional possibility. The following year with Howard Skempton and Michael Parsons he formed the equally important Scratch Orchestra, which grew into a large ensemble, preforming over the following four years.

 

the golden state warriors are vying for the best single season record currently held by one of the jordan bulls teams i think 1995. they went 72-10. the warriors are now 53-5 after tonights comeback victory against one of the four best teams in the nba, the oklahoma thunder. what should make the thunder particularly tough is that they have two of the top five or six players in the league in kevin durant and russell westbrook. tonight the combined for 61 pts 19 rebounds and 18 assists. thats probably close to average.

i tuned in with about five minutes to go and okc were up by 9 or 11. figured it was over. but golden state kept at it and were fortunate to get a foul called at the buzzer when they were down two. they made the foul shots and it went into overtime. then even after durant fouled out for okc they still maintained a lead down to the final minute when the warriors found a way to tie it back up. okc had the ball with a little under 30 second ran it down and then missed an opportunity to take the lead. and then this happened. it looks like a ridiculously long shot but curry, the current mvp and points leader, has made about 50% of shots from this distance this season. during the game he also tied a single game record of 12 3 pointers made and broke the single season record for made 3 pointers which he held. and theres still 25 games left in the season! truly amazing.

guess im gonna try to watch breaking away. not sure ill make it through. on tcm in one minute.

Idiocracy (now more than ever)
 

havent tried it yet but will soon. plantains replace bread in venezuelan street food sandwiches at patacon pisao.

i may not be able to complain about the electricity soon. some chinese electricians are stalking the hallways and when i inquired we were able to come to an agreement in broken english that "new line" was in the offing.  i just hope it doesnt come with a rent hike. unfortunately ill have no one to blame but myself. well, thats not true. its certainly the cajoling of the landlord across the street thats making it happen and he is responding to my eyerolling comments about the paucity of power, but i explicitly said we were fine with it if it meant the rent stayed as is. so ill be pissed at him for meddling and at myself for not keeping my big mouth shut. it probably wont happen but i wont be shocked if it does.

the dream lives on, bill.

Picante, 6th near Gilman, Berzerkeley

How to Grow Chamomile
 

11am Hog Island Oyster at opening bell on the way to airport, what a totally great meal.......we adults got squid, mussels, oysters + beer/cocktails.......those kids fries, bread, + shirley temples

 

8:45am SF, gotta love that city.....

Steve Martin did standup for the first time in 35 years, opening for Seinfeld last night at Beacon Theater.

RIPPPPPPPPPPPPP

“I think that writing is an act of love.” —Umberto Eco https://t.co/O0nnqVXo2M pic.twitter.com/GD3U8HiMQD

— The Paris Review (@parisreview) February 20, 2016

Artist Frank Stella’s abstract synagogues on display in Poland

The works are from his Polish Village series produced in the 1970s. He  embarked on that project after he was inspired by a 1959 book by Polish architects Maria and Kazimierz Piechotka entitled “Wooden Synagogues.” The exhibition also features photographs of the synagogues by Szymon Zajczyk, a Jewish photographer and art historian who was killed in the Holocaust.

 

Steve and Ruth in times review

black panthers doc on pbs at 9 tonight.