dead ringer

bette davis dead ringerposter for the paul henreid directed film starring ms. ruth elizabeth davis herself. henreid and davis also starred together in now, voyager; one of my all time favorite films, and the one to launch henreid as a romantic lead. i’ve never seen dead ringer, well, besides the cronenberg of a similar name, but this poster is certainly intriguing.
by sv

CATEGORIES: must be considered films

a thundering meow

jaguar nobodys pussycat advertisement“and that changes the discussion from what a sports car can do to how well it can do it.” well, it’s not the size of the boat after all, it’s the…you know…. a veracious and innuendo filled vintage advertisement from our friends at jaguar. i don’t drive; i never have, and i certainly never will. however, i can get behind this. meow.
by sv

CATEGORIES: cars

we have an anchor

jem-cohen-we-have-an-anchor

Jem Cohen: We Have An Anchor from EMPAC @ Rensselaer on Vimeo.

i attended the friday night screening of jem cohen’s we have an anchor at BAM. the film had a three-night run at the harvey theater, a beautiful space for both film and performance. many moons ago nick cave scored a rendition of kafka’s metamorphosis there, and i had a lovely august saturday seeing woody allen’s summer ode to a streetcar named desire, blue jasmine. shown on five screens and featuring a seven member musical ensemble, cohen’s film is a melancholy ode to cape breton, the island off the northeastern coast of nova scotia. the ensemble featured such musicians as jessica moss, efrim manuel menuck, sophie trudeau, mira bilotte and jim white; all painstakingly present in the score they also composed. a film of few words with noteworthy exceptions, such as the poet elizabeth bishop, it is a quaint, convalescent mixture of past, present and future–beautifully depicting a graveyard of ideas. cohen came out and gave a little wave of his cap after the performance; many were moved, as i overheard in both the corridors and the front of the theater. what’s certain, to me, is that this film undoubtedly belongs in the permanent collection of moma, or maybe criterion, if they’re feeling arty. to learn more about the “unusual but accessible” mr. cohen, read here. by sv

CATEGORIES: clips, ny places

believe in zero: caryl stern


skip your next martini and flex your mental muscles with caryl stern’s personal story about the 99%… add just 1 and watch 100% of royalties go directly to unicef. caryl is the president and CEO of the U.S. fund for UNICEF. read more here. buy it here. by uh

CATEGORIES: earth related

electrocuting an elephant with nikola and tom

earlier today, in the dreary cabin in the middle of nowhere known as ts headquarters, we were discussing the differences between nikola tesla, thomas edison and their feuding. more specifically, the war of the currents. the subject came up following a series of paralleled conversations, particularly why there is a difference with 110 and 220 voltage in the united states and europe. basically, the system of three-phase alternating current electrical generation was invented by tesla, and he found that 60hz (cycles per second) was the best frequency for an AC (alternating current) power generation. tesla preferred 240 volts, which angered edison, whose DC (direct current) systems were 110 volts. our mindful kt then added that edison (in my opinion just a lucky inventor and by no means on the scientific level tesla was) had once electrocuted an elephant. we found the video, and if you haven’t seen it, it’s disturbing but historically present. i could go on about their differences, in hygiene and interpersonal skills, but we can leave that for another post on some other day. by sv

CATEGORIES: clips, history, mind candy