February 26, 2010

The First Cinematic Adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (1903)

Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stow’s 107-year-old short Alice in Wonderland - the first cinematic adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic children’s story - was recently restored by the BFI National Archive using the only print known to exist. Unfortunately, 4 of the film’s 12 minutes have been lost forever.

Click here for more information.

Concert Champêtre

For a while I wanted to buy an 17th century harpsichord, but after hearing this on the radio the other day it made me want to buy one now and learn this.

Françis Poulenc's Concert Champêtre for harpsichord and orchestra.
Conducted by Georges Prêtre.

Snow Dance



The snow dance from the film, "Memoirs of A Geisha".

February 13, 2010

Strait-Jacket (1964)

Joan Crawford Wardrobe/Makeup Test for Strait-Jacket (1964).

February 11, 2010

Rest In Peace Alexander McQueen


I am in total shock to wake up and find out that Alexander McQueen has passed on from this world.
A true genius of the fashion world with such visionary.
An artist of wearable art and imagination sparker.
He made our dreams come to life.
He was a great inspiration of mine and will always be.
Rest In Peace Lee Alexander McQueen.

February 8, 2010

"Vij"

"Vij", a horror story based on the novel by Nikolaj Gogol (1835) that has become world horror classics.
Script by A. Ptushko, Directed by K.Ershov and G.Kropachev.
Featuring the bloody beautiful Natalja Varley (Pannochka) and famous Russian actor Leonid Kuravljov (Homa).
Mosfilm, 1967.

I am so happy that Annakim posted this! My mother would always talk about this film when I was young and how it scared her half to death when she was a young girl!

Chéri Hérouard - "La Vie Parisienne" (Part III)

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Chéri Hérouard - "La Vie Parisienne" (Part II)

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(This one reminds me of my brother (Arthur) and myself... and perhaps my father, haha)

Chéri Hérouard - "La Vie Parisienne" (Part I)

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"Self" by Marc Quinn

"Self" by Marc Quinn (2006)
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Quinn's signature piece is often considered to be "Self", a frozen sculpture of the artist's head made from 4.5 liters of the artist's own frozen blood taken from his body over a period of five months. This work is repeated every five years and will result in a unique record of the artist aging.

The edition is based on a photograph of the frozen sculpture printed with pigmented inks on a gesso coated aluminium panel. Using Factum Arte's specially designed flatbed printer, each panel is overprinted 3 times, in order to achieve the intensity of colour necessary.

"Self" is published by Paragon Press (London, England) in an edition of 59 copies. Each panel is signed and numbered by the artist on the reverse. In addition to the edition, a number of the panels have been over-painted by the artist to produce a group of unique works (Handpainted Self).

For more details see Paragon press web site

My Love By Alexander Petrov

An Oscar 2008 nominated film for Best Short Film.

In nineteenth-century Russia, a teenage boy in search of love is drawn to two very different women.

Petrov's style from the late 1980s onward can be characterized as a type of Romantic realism. People, animals and landscapes are painted and animated in a very realistic fashion, but there are many sections in his films where Petrov attempts to depict a character's inner thoughts and dreams. In My Love, the main character's illness is represented by showing him being buried beneath freshly-fallen snow on a dark night.

This short animated film is like watching an impressionist painting come to life. Unfortunately, youtube's format of this film is not of great quality.



February 3, 2010

February 1, 2010

Beaded Spindles Spinning Inside My Head

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"Mrs. Brau Potter" by Marius De Zayas


"The Masque of Red Death" by Harry Clarke


"The Supreme Vice" by Felicien Rops


"Fatalism" by Jan Toroop


"Chintz of Darkness" by Kay Nielsen

The Man Who Never Laughed

"And the mirror told him that his was indeed the withered face and form..."

Kay Nielsen, "The Man Who Never Laughed"
from "In Powder and Crinoline" (1913)

The White Peacock


Franz von Bayroz. "The White Peacock" (1910).

"The Capital Sins" by George Barbier

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"The Curve"


http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=9713