Freaks

'Freaks' is a movie that i heard about as a teenager. Prior to the internet exploding in popularity and accessibility, zines/magazines/friends/books were my only options for 'culturally' educating myself. I read a number of music and film magazines religiously in order to keep abreast of new music and gems that i hadn't yet discovered. It was around this time that 'Freaks' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant".

Reading a short article on it i mentally made a note to try and track it down to see what all the fuss was about. However this was easier said than done in my tiny village where livestock outnumbered humans 10-1. It was only a few years later when browsing through a friends extensive DVD collection that i found a copy. It was not strictly a horror film as i'd previously read but rather a tale of human relationships and the moral that beauty is more than skin deep.

Watch 'Freaks' above

Tod Browning produced and directed the film which was released by MGM. The film was based on Tod Robbins' short story "Spurs". Browning was an American actor, director and screenwriter who had been a member of a traveling circus in his early years. He had run away at the age of 16 to join the circus and spent a number of years traveling with sideshows,carnivals and circuses. Since Browning cast actual deformed actors, moviegoers of the time found this shocking and distasteful. As a result the film was banned for over 30 years. In the early 1960s it was rediscovered and gradually became a cult film. In 1994, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant".

Much of the film was drawn from his personal experiences and the film nudges the viewer to question the perception behind physical appearances. The so called freaks may be physically deformed but they come across as trusting, generous people while the real monsters are two of the non deformed members of the circus who are self serving and deceptive.



The plot revolves around stunningly beautiful trapeze artist Cleopatra. Hans is a sideshow midget who, although he is engaged to Frieda, is smitten with Cleopatra. The wily trapeze artist learns of his large inheritance,who feigns affection and sets about seducing him. She succeeds and at their wedding reception the other 'freaks' resolve that they will accept her in spite of being a 'normal' outsider. During the reception they hold an initiation ceremony to show their acceptance which freaks Cleopatra out. As a result she accidentally reveals that she has been having an affair with Hercules, the strong man.

Shortly thereafter, Hans is taken ill and Cleopatra begins to gradually poison him by spiking his medicine. Her plan is to kill Hans, inherit his money and run away with Hercules. One of the circus performers overhears Cleopatra talking about her plan and informs the others. In the film's climax, the freaks attack Cleopatra and Hercules with guns, knives, and various sharp-edged weapons, hideously mutilating them during a bad storm. The film concludes with a revelation of Cleopatra's fate: she herself has been turned into a freak, reduced to performing in a sideshow as the squawking 'human duck'."

Freaks on IMDB

Prism

'Plexus No. 3'

My usually robust immune system appears to have short circuited in the past month, leaving me with one cold and one flu in the space of 3 weeks. Actually to call it a flu wouldn't really do it justice, my attempts to stave it off with zinc, vitamins, Neocitran, healthy food and lots of rest has done little to stem the sneezing and sweating. Charming eh? I guess in a way, it has a positive side as I'm currently zonked on my couch wrapped in a blanket and catching up on blog stuff and terrible television (What??! My brain cells can't handle anything intellectual right now). Oh and let's just say that 'The Plexus Series' by Gabriel Dawe looks positively psychedelic when you're taking flu medication!

'Plexus No. 3'

Dawe was born in Mexico City where vibrant color was imprinted on his psyche from an early age. In 2000 he wanted to travel and decided to move to Montreal where he worked as a graphic designer. It was during this time that he began experimenting, creating artwork which led to him to explore textiles, weaving and embroidery. Traditionally in Mexico, these activities were associated with women and generally men were not encouraged to participate.

'Plexus No. 3'

Dawe lived in Canada until 2007 where he gained dual citizenship as a Mexican-Canadian, his art then took him to Texas where he began an MFA in Arts and Technology at the University of Texas at Dallas. The Plexus Series consists of large-scale installations made with Gütermann thread "creating environments that deal with notions of social constructions and their relation to evolutionary theory and the self-organizing force of nature."

'Plexus No. 4'

These large scale pieces utilize vibrant color and intricate threading that creates an almost prism like effect when viewed from different angles. Each piece is woven from a structure containing anchor points and can take up to a month to complete, one thread at a time. The video below shows the construction and completion of 'Plexus No. 4'.

Dawe lived in Canada until 2007 where he gained dual citizenship as a Mexican-Canadian, his dedication then took him to Texas where he began an MFA in Arts and Technology at the University of Texas at Dallas. His work has been exhibited in Dallas, Houston, Montreal, Toronto and Barcelona.

'Plexus No. 4'

http://www.gabrieldawe.com/index.html

Pluck

"If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, jobs. And maybe your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery, isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance. Of how much you really want to do it. And you'll do it, despite rejection in the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods. And the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is."

Charles Bukowski

Object of Desire: Ursidae

My apartment is probably the most sparsely furnished of anyone i know. Having to leave behind a house full of personal items, clothes, records, books and furniture when i left Ireland, i vowed to keep my purchases/hoarding tendencies in Canada in check. Although not one of the bear necessities (groan) in life, I've been eyeballing this beanbag from Chicsindesigndotcom as it's functional, comfortable and adorable. Want.

Chicsindesigndotcom on Etsy

Marble House

Judging from the feedback regarding the previous two mixes, some of you seem to be enjoying them. So here's another one!

39 Forster Place

It was thanks to Donal Dineens radio show that i found the music of Keith Jarrett or rather it found me. Returning home late one night in October, high on a potent mix of Apostasy's legendary hot chocolate and kisses from the man i was falling in love with, the first few notes of 'The Köln Concert' ebbed from the stereo and knocked me sideways.

Over a decade later the album still has the power to engulf and mesmerize me. That December my first love and i made an agreement, as poor students we would only exchange one small present for Christmas. Unwrapping our gifts in our first home together, it appeared that great minds thought alike: Two copies of 'The Köln Concert'.

http://www.keithjarrett.org/

Logorama

I am late to this one: Logorama has to be the most visually dense and interesting animated piece i've seen so far this year.

It's a short film that was directed by the French animation collective H5, François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy + Ludovic Houplain and was presented at the Cannes Film Festival 2009. It opened the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and won a 2010 academy award for best animated short. With over 2,500 contemporary and 'vintage' logos, i can't even begin to list the corporate and cultural giants it references in 16 minutes.

Beautifully animated and set in a highly stylized Los Angeles, H5 states "Logorama presents us with an over-marketed world built only from logos and real trademarks that are destroyed by a series of natural disasters (including an earthquake and a tidal wave of oil). Logotypes are used to describe an alarming universe (similar to the one that we are living in) with all the graphic signs that accompany us everyday in our lives. This over-organized universe is violently transformed by the cataclysm becoming fantastic and absurd. It shows the victory of the creative against the rational, where nature and human fantasy triumph."

http://www.logorama-themovie.com/

Tell The Truth As If It Were Lies

“But what is the good of friendship if one cannot say exactly what one means? Anybody can say charming things and try to please and to flatter, but a true friend always says unpleasant things, and does not mind giving pain. Indeed, if he is a really true friend he prefers it, for he knows that then he is doing good.”

Oscar Wilde

Architectural Anomaly Part 5: Il Girasole

At first glance ‘Il Girasole’ appears to be a regular structure. Well, as regular as a modernist villa built in the Po Vally near Verona, Northern Italy can be. Appearances can be deceptive however, for ‘Il Girasole’ is a revolving L-shaped villa that rotates imperceptibly on a fixed circular base.

The structure, which was built in the early 1930's, became known as ‘Il Girasole’ which means 'The Sunflower' as it allowed the building to follow the sun. Originally the brainchild of engineer Angelo Invernizzi and architect Ettore Fagiuoli, it was developed with the aid of creative friends; a mixture of architects, artists and furniture designers.

Vivian Maier: Hidden Treasures

Snippets of an era that were seemingly destined to be forgotten. That is until 2007 when John Maloof attended an auction in Chicago. He was working on a local history book Portage Park and whilst researching, had gone in the hopes of finding any old images that depicted Chicago. It was here that he accidentally stumbled upon on something which would change his life: the work of Vivian Maier.

Her belongings had been left in a commercial storage locker and were being sold off due to non payments. Maloof didn't realise the full extent of what he had acquired until he began to examine the negatives. As he looked through her images, he gradually developed an interest in street photography and inspired by her work he began taking photographs.

Her life story is still vague. Born to a French mother, Maier herself spent time in both France and America. She was an aloof but at times outspoken woman who who moved to Chicago circa 1956. It was here that she worked as a nanny, mainly for North Shore families for four decades. Those who knew her said she remained single and kept to herself.


In her spare time, she would walk the streets armed with a camera, the results of which were never shown to anyone. It's questionable as to if she really viewed the results herself, judging from the huge number of undeveloped film that was left behind when she died at the age of 83 in 2009. As he continues to explore her photographs, Maloof discovered that Vivian traveled the world in 1959. She visited and photographed places like Canada, Egypt, Bangkok, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, France, Italy, and Indonesia. He also noted that she traveled alone which would have been unusual for a single woman to do at the time.

Out of the more than 100,000 negatives, about 20,000-30,000 shots were still in undeveloped rolls from the 1960's-1970's. These are gradually being developed and according to Maloof there's still 90,000 negatives to scan, a few hundred black and white rolls and about 600 color rolls to develop. To date he has safely archived over 3000 of her prints and scanned/archived about 10,000 negatives with the help of Anthony Rydzon.

Maloof is working to both preserve and spread awareness about her work. He regularly posts photographs on the link featured below and is working on both a book and documentary.

To see more of Vivian Maiers work and to watch her story unfold:
http://www.vivianmaier.com/

http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/