Eclipse 1962: 憎いあンちくしょう

This is absolutely fantastic! It’s so 60s. But… way ahead of the curve. I can’t believe this was made in 1962.

And funny.

Again I’m wondering what lenses they were using in Japan at the time… at the edges, people look really compressed.

I love this movie. I mean, the look of this movie. Sixty years later, it looks so fresh and vibrant and young.

But I have no idea what this movie’s supposed to be about. It’s kinda vague? Or, rather, the opposite? I mean, the plot has been kinda trivial so far, at least.

But fun.

The non-linearness of the lens they’re using makes every panning shot into a slightly psychedelic scene.

Oh deer — it’s been over a month since I last watched a movie? Oh, yeah, I was planning for a trip and then that didn’t happen… And I watched some TV series. Our Flag Means Death? That was fun. And… er… Servant? I watched a season of Servant. I expected more twists. The twist there was that there weren’t more twists. And I watched Get Back — if only they could have shown more versions of the Get Back song! That would have been fun? But it was pretty good. Oh! Yeah! I watched the second season of Raised By Wolves. That was kinda insane, wasn’t it? I love the actor playing Mother Kill-Bot.

Anyway, it’s wonderful watching a movie again.

This is a very mild satire of celebrity culture. But it’s quite amusing, and so stylish.

But… it’s a lot? There’s some brilliant scenes here, but it’s hard to be aboard with the entire thing.

It’s a rom com at heart, but it’s not that rom?

Kitten!

I Hate But Love. Koreyoshi Kurahara. 1962.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

Rock Show

Oh my Emacs. It was so good to be back at a rock show. I think it’s my first since last autumn? But now the pandemic is totally over so cough cough

It was Nadja, and they were great. I even got the t-shirt. Which is a confusing t-shirt.

Yay.

On the other hand, I was supposed to be at the Big Ears festival this weekend so *sigh*.

Further* Legal Developments

Last week, I got a letter from the post dept asking me to declare a package… that had arrived from India. I couldn’t remember ordering anything from India, so I answered “er what” and they sent me this snapshot of the package back:

Such clarity. But I managed to make out “On India Government Service”, and then it dawned on me: This must be that thing where I’m being sued in India again!

As you probably won’t remember (I barely remembered it myself), in 2011 I got several kilos worth of legal documents from India. I, along with Yahoo and Google, was being sued because of statements made by a person in India about another person in India, but it was unclear why or what they wanted me to do.

A later letter clarified things slightly, and then finally I somehow figured out what this was all about:

If I understand them correctly, I’m now party in a counter-suit.

Here’s my understanding of this brain teaser.

Originally, Sanjay sued Milap for libel because Milap said that Sanjay has stolen his land, corrupted the government and tried to have him and his family killed.

Sanjay apparently won this case, which has been going in the Indian courts since the early nineties. I was a party here because Milap had sent an email to a list about this stuff, stored on Gmane.

Now Milap is counter-suing Sanjay.

I’m not quite sure what the suit is actually about, because the papers here deal mostly with trying to shift the case from the Calcutta high court to another high court. Because Milap is afraid that he’ll be killed if he shows his face in Calcutta.

ALLEGEDLY! I know nothing.

(And my part in all of this is that I used to run the Gmane mailing list archive, which stored a copy of the email where Milap had told his tale of woe.)

So I wrote back to the postal service and explained some of this and asked “does it look like it’s paperwork?” (because these days the postal people refuse to actually have a peek inside packages to see what’s what). And they answered “We’re sending it on”, which I interpreted as “yes”, and today I finally remembered to collect it at the post office:

The packaging is made from cotton! That’s very nice and all… But I put in on the balcony in case it’s got, like, anthrax, or even worse: Glitter. You never know!

Hm, I should probably censor some addresses; not because it’s secret but you know.

It certainly feels like five kilos of paper…

Looks like it, too. OK, time to make an incision…

It’s paper!

Uh-oh. It’s from the Sheriff of Calcutta!

OK, it’s a writ stating that I have to appear at the court now?

From the High Court of Calcutta. So Milap wasn’t successful in moving the trial away from Calcutta, so I guess he’s gonna get killed? (That was his fears, apparently.) ALLEGEDLY!

Yup.

Who’s my co-defendants this time? Google’s still on board…

Lycos…

Yahoo…

And there’s little ol’ me!

I don’t even know whether this is the suit or the countersuit. Hm… oh, yeah! This is the suit. Sanjay is suing Milap and the rest of us…

But I guess my reaction to all of this is the same as always: I’m never, ever going to India.

But I guess I should find out if Norway has an extradition treaty with India, eh?

—
* I don’t know the iteration.

Comics Daze

I was gonna be all productive today, but then my get up and go got up and left, so how about I just read comics until I plotz instead?

Besides, apparently Easter has arrived…

… and I have to eat all this stuff in this egg. And… I think I’ll only play records I had as a teenager? Yes. So let’s get started.

Talking Heads: Remain In Light

17:26: It’s Life As I See It edited by Dan Nadel (New York Review Comics)

This collection is a bit uneven — there’s some good stuff and some kinda awkward stuff (Tom Floyd).

Jay Jackson’s strip (filling about a quarter of the book) is really interesting. But.

Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel 3

Wow. Far out. (Turtel Onli.)

Morrie Turner’s strips are pretty amusing, though.

18:52: Mail Order Monsters curated by Kathy Grayson (Picturebox and others)

This is a catalogue of a (series of) exhibitions… It’s very 2008.

And there’s also a portfolio with a couple dozen plates. Here’s Mat Brinkman.

And Francine Spiegel.

It’s pretty neat.

Joe Jackson: Beat Crazy

19:04: Dschinn Dschinn: Der zauber des Schabbar by Ralf König (Fahrenheit)

Heh. This is about a mullah that’s very similar to a more well-known one (I’ll mention no names), who gets instructions about women wearing burkas and stuff…

… who’s then magically turned into a sex djinn. Somehow König didn’t get a fatwa on his ass, but presumably because nobody in Saudi Arabia reads German comics.

David Byrne and Brian Eno: My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts

Anyway, it’s really funny, apart from the blasphemelicious bits. König’s comics are always mostly people sitting around talking, and he’s got the rhythms brilliantly down. The witty repartee keeps coming, and always takes surprising, funny turns.

David Bowie: Scary Monsters

20:11: Burn Out by Ozanam/Sommer (Fahrenheit)

Interesting desaturated palette…

… and the artwork is somewhere between “almost really interesting” and “kinda ugly”.

This book is a genre exercise — it’s one of those hard boiled spirals into horror. But it’s really well done! It’s got all the required twists and stuff.

The Cure: Seventeen Seconds (1)

20:58: Lucky Luke: D’homme de Washington by Achdé & Gerra (Egmont)

I’ve only read a handful of the post-Morris Lucky Lukes, and they’re pretty hit or miss. The fun ones can be really entertaining, and the rest… aren’t. I found this one at a sale, though, so I thought what the hey.

Gerra does Morris’ art style pretty much perfectly, but there’s a lack of clarity in the action — scenes that you can see would have been fun if done by Morris just feel… there.

And Achdé is no Goscinny if this is anything to go by. I mean, it’s fine, but it’s not very exciting.

The Clash: Sandinista!

21:54: Les Schtroumpfs et l’arbre d’or by Alain Jost and Pascal Garray (Cobolt)

I’ve read less than a handful of the Smurfs albums. Even as a child I found these things to be a bit… er… annoying. But I found this cheaply, so I thought I’d give it a go. This is from 2011, so I was wondering whether they’d updated the concept any.

And… nope. But you know? This is fine.

It’s moderately amusing throughout. I think I may have kinda liked this if I were like ten. I mean, more than I enjoyed Peyo’s original Smurf albums when I was ten.

The Clash: Sandinista!

23:01: Grus by Anna Degnbol (Fahrenheit)

Hm… this seems awfully familiar… have I read it before? Yes indeed. I should start checking my blog before shopping…

Well, might as well read it again.

I was very annoyed by this book the last time I read it. Most of the storytelling beats are from film (or TV) and not from comics. That is, reading this is like watching a condensed version of a six episode Danish supernatural/thriller TV series, really.

And while the artwork is mostly attractive, everybody is bobble-headed, which isn’t really my thing.

But I wasn’t as annoyed when reading this as last time. It establishes the mood efficiently (by leaning on TV tropes; true, but still) and it’s a satisfying end.

The Clash: Sandinista!

23:37: Les Danois by Clarke (Faraos Cigarer)

This is very high concept — apparently there’s a virus that makes all newborn children blond(e) and otherwise very Danish-looking (which explains the name of this book).

It’s either kind of offensive or … not, I guess, but what it definitely is is very choppily told. The storytelling is abstruse — and not as an aesthetic choice, I think, but because the author is pretty confused, is my guess.

It’s pretty entertaining, but it’s a bit of a head scratcher. I think I know what the plot was? But I’m not sure? How was that vaccine company involved, anyway?

Yukihiro Takahashi: Neuromantic

00:24: Le Cycle de Cyann 5: Les Couloirs de l’Entretemps by François Bourgeon and Claude Lacroix (Cobolt)

Er. This is the fifth album in this series? I don’t think I’ve read the first four… Oops.

Les passagers du vent was hot shit in the 80s — it was printed throughout Europe as part of the “comics aren’t for kids” wave after Maus — and I thought it was absolute twaddle. So I haven’t kept up with Bourgeon at all.

And I know that it’s unfair to even try to say something based on the fifth album in a six album series — but this is complete twaddle. Even on a panel by panel basis, it’s very hard to tell (or care) what’s going on.

I don’t think I’ll be looking for the other albums in this series.

Various: The Fruit of the Original Sin

01:06: World War 3 Illustrated edited by Seth Tobocman and others

OK, I’m fading now, but just a couple more…

The previous few issues of this had been really strong, but the sixth issue is pretty spotty. There’s Eric Drooker, but much of the rest isn’t particularly inspiring.

But things pick up again with the seventh issue. And… it has a flexi!? I tried playing it, but it sounded very, very, very soft. I wonder whether it’s somehow partially melted over the years? It looks a bit odd, especially on the back.

Chuck Sperry.

James Romberger.

Aki Fujiyoshi. Wowzers.

And Tobocman.

Various: Methods of Dance (1)

01:42: The End

OK, time to sleep.