Showing posts with label Art Criticism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art Criticism. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Dispatchwork

An aging pop culture enthusiast takes a break from his earnest studies, the consistent immersion in series and shows gradually decreasing as time slowly passes.

With so much to choose from and so little time the consumption of narratives loses its allure, but the habitual excitement at one time manifested still ecstatically dwells in his fatigued consciousness. 

Recommendations are made with animate care and melodious gusto, as several friends mention dozens of shows that have been released in recent years.

The list grows larger and larger an interminable agglomeration, the florid temptation to check things out at times seductive yet still dismissed.

Music slowly fills the void definitively left by the showcased absence, as limitless access to countless albums harmoniously etherealizes newfound grace.

But then one day a special edition is spontaneously ordered on DVD, to continue to build an old collection still awkwardly missing constituent parts.

The edition itself must be inspected at which point curiosity materializes. 

But some of the episodes seem somewhat dull. 

And he worries he's become a snob!

I liked how he finds the emergence of potential snobbery most distressing as it arises, an open-mind key to the random consumption of multivariable media ad infinitum. 

As it dawns on him that he's been overlooking and indeed dismissing shows he once liked, a nerd mid-life crises effectually disturbs his tranquil patient solemn solace.

Indeed the ridiculous must once again be humbly entertained with inclusive vision, the manifold intricate oblivious impeti ludicrously clarifying postmodern life.

Snobs often producing debilitating affects while shortsightedly obliviating upbeat creativity, their minds having lost the childish wonder they coldheartedly critique with bitter indiscretion. 

The rest of the edition is eagerly devoured with reverberating lighthearted august interest. 

Bringing back Bob Cratchit to mind.

While studying classic antiquity.  

Tuesday, September 16, 2025

Shadows

Reflexive reckoning attuned impulse acrylic observation succinct insight, unleashed imagination daylight denizens nocturnal novices piecemeal grain.

Introductory vision complimentary sizzle albeit accolades staggered supposition, efficacious trill evocative stumble Danube delineation tacit nectar.

Abstinent agency expressive candour absent alternatives awkward obsession, journeyman jousting flamboyant browse unsettling occasion suffice satisfaction. 

Bold embarkations gillyweed jambrose confident claim exclamatory quip, adamant Oakley controversial dispute energetic galvanguard delving implosion.

Hesitant hamhocked contumelious bellow clumsy clandestine disengaged squawk, unmatched expectations disparate gloom determinate giblets uninspired smirk.

Chillaxed infatuation mutual accords sustained experiment jovial gravity, inquisitive bachelor elegant damsel unheralded retreat sudden summation.

Wallaby whimsy animate censure balustrade blinkers innocuous blinds, laidback lighthearted sincere digressions creative atmosphere streamlined levity.

Unfortunate morose prejudicial frontiers unintegrated distrustful cultural horizons, family matters contemptuous histories soulless calculation hardboiled fetters.

Callous concoction nightingale glam material mental misguided malignance, indigent malady volatile venom distressing disease perennial dissonance. 

Freeform innocence tackling digression youthful curiosity individual poise, public variety iridescent blend interracial networks burgeoning friends.

Silhouette synergy adhesive swathe sweetly flowing stanza convective cloth, immersive integrity vehement wilderness embryonic ether latent sagesse.

Meanwhile conversation building block blueprints recital talisman delicate discipline, windy restorative equaneme vibe cautious exploration jaunty juke jive.

Cassavetes's directorial debut kinetic overflow compelling difference, lithe unexpected unannounced transitions vibrant characters inherent vortex.

His writing's brave like his films. He makes you want to trust him.

In the Criterion booklet.

Living the dream.

*Surprised more people don't follow his example and finance and make their own films. 

Tuesday, November 14, 2023

You've Got Mail

Well, it looks like way back when, when giant bookstores starting taking over, an adorable romantic comedy was made to help soften the corporate blow.

I remember the old school crisis and how it effected the local markets, not that independent bookstores disappeared entirely, but I certainly don't see them as much as I used to.

I suppose I don't really know who financed You've Got Mail, but it looks like a traditional piece of propaganda, that makes for a much more pleasant hostile takeover, complete with big business male conquering small business female.

I wonder how it was received at the time.

There's no doubt it's clever.

The internet was just starting up and people were just beginning to use email. 'Twas a fledgling monumental paradigm shift in the ways in which the entire world operates. The people at You've Got Mail clearly understood this, and went about crafting a related narrative.

Which was inherently endearing. 

If not ominously inevitable. 

I do rather like Chapters/Indigo, it is a cool place to look for books, each individual store having to pass the Proust and Dickens test, before definitively delineating its classical authenticity. 

Stick a Starbucks in there.

What a brilliant idea.

A Christmas bonus to whoever thought that one up.

It was a shame to see so many independents go under though, they had character and savvy and weren't quite so freakin' imposing.

My favourite bookstore will always be the local bookshop from my youth, a cool little place where I found my first volume of Proust (after watching Little Miss Sunshine) and many other cool books over the years, the owner used to even feature photos of raccoons in winter, and even took the mayor of Hamilton to court (and won if I'm not mistaken [long before Andrea Horwath who I imagine is doing a great job])!

25 years after the release of You've Got Mail I find myself dreading another paradigm shift, where Chapters/Indigo and bookstores everywhere go out of business, and one's forced to shop online.

That's all I've been doing since the pandemic hit and I have no idea how those stores have coped. All I know is that books used to feature prominently in the mainstream narrative (see You've Got Mail or The NeverEnding Story), and I never really see them mentioned anymore.

There should be money for prestige films that might win Oscars that focus on books. Obviously, I love film. But books and music still feature heavily in my life.

Perhaps I'm just being anxious, and nothing's really wrong, but I keep hearing bad restaurant tidings, and my laundry alarm went off while I was editing this sentence. 

I worry because I don't know many people who read books.

But I never really have come to think of it (outside of University).

Good thing Dad made sure I read as a child.

That was one thing he sincerely pushed. 

Honestly, when I was really young illiteracy still existed in the mainstream mind, and learning to read was regarded as a great thing, like we really had evolved. 

Another step in the wrong direction?

Getting my COVID booster soon. 

Monday, February 17, 2014

La Grande Bellezza

Intricate spiralling ornately orchestrated unconcerned lavish spectacular ornamentations lushly yet temperately adorn La Grande Bellezza's sensuous immersions, crystalline socially interactive penetrating steps daring the bold to convivially counter, impeccable introductory multilayered intensities, celebrating for the urge of heights, shear polished expressive intertextual presence, the slightest movement, calm overwhelming culturally accumulated propensities, days within months within years within decades within millennia, to actively exist within contemporary a/temporalities, to discuss, persuade, to pressure, the hubris, the risk, the meticulous structure, deconstructing the meticulous by agilely removing any sense of the contritely overbearing, genius and beauty united in harmony, its form/s finessing the flaneur, complete distinct exploratory vignettes lacking borders or delineations, smooth seductive sequential synergies, emotive yet provocative, the mention of Proust, if ever there was a film that made me momentarily feel the same way I do while reading Proust, it's Paolo Sorrentino's La Grande Bellezza; I thought this was an impossibility; flourishing forbearance, imparted, gentle.

Cinematography by Luca Bigazzi.

Idea, conversation, melody.

Jep Gambardella's (Toni Servillo) introduction is the best introduction of a character I've ever seen.

See this one in theatres.

Like 12 Years a Slave, it demands multiple viewings.

Par excellence.