Perhaps you have all already seen Adam Curtis’ latest post, Dream on (it’s been up a week), but if not you have to take a look now. It tells what he describes as ‘an odd, romantic, but ultimately very sad story… [about] a pessimistic belief that all one’s dreams for a better future are just illusions – and [suggests] how that pessimism then came to paralyse the left in Britain throughout the eighties and nineties.’ The cast list for this saga of the sixties is extraordinary: activist and agent Clive Goodwin, painter (and Goodwin’s wife) Pauline Boty (above), filmmaker Ken Russell, philosopher Herbert Marcuse, writer Nigel Kneale, radical Michael X and the nineteenth century utopian writer Charles Fourier. Adam Curtis illustrates his story with some glorious archive extracts – and if you surrender youself to its twists and turns, his story should make you both sad and angry. Across the jump, more links to good stuff…
• The future of the left: if you want to pursue the potential suggested by Curtis, you could do worse than read this fascinating interview with political theorist Robert Unger – ‘My view is that all the fundamental problems of the European societies, and the world as a whole, require the reinvention of the conventional institutional arrangements for the organization of democracies, market economies, and civil societies.’ (thanks to the always excellent The Browser)
• Pordenone round-up: an invaluable page of links to The Bioscope’s invaluable reports from the Giornate del Cinema Muto silent film festival.
• Labouring in the shadow of Hollywood: Manohla Dargis in The New York Times on the history of avant-garde film in Los Angeles.
• Triangulating the rust-belt – notes on Tony Scott’s Unstoppable: I’ve mentioned before what a truly interesting film Scott’s runaway train movie is, and here are some reflections by Daniel Kasman to suggest exactly why.
• The deaths of cinema, cont.: most of this short Mubi.com post is an extended quote from the doyen of cinematographers, Roger Deakins, talking about the Arri Alexa digital camera – ‘with the Alexa I believe digital has finally surpassed film in terms of quality’; coming from him, that’s a big statement.
• You are my density: terrific post from David Bordwell about the idea of scenic density – ‘Most films today don’t fully exploit the visual dimension of cinema.’
• Opinion: the 2012 Olympic artists posters: terrific Creative Review blog post by Patrick Burgoyne (beautifully illustrated) about the newly released posters and their historical context – great images from Munich 1972.
• Katy Perry – the very good, the very bad: super-smart post about the polysemy of Ms Perry from Anne Helen Petersen’s blog, celebrity gossip, academic style.
• Critical discourse in the digital humanities: very interesting post by Fred Gibbs about the role and nature of criticism in digital humanities.
• The future of dance criticism: interesting defence by Ismene Brown of theartsdesk of the traditional critic in this age of culture 2.0 – ‘I’m increasingly persuaded … that the true function of a formal dance review is to light a flame.’
• Never mind the bollocks, here’s the future of TV criticism: ‘boob tube dude’ tells it like it is, or might be – more reflections on criticism 2.0, this time in relation to the small screen (thanks to @jmittell).
• The new patterns of culture – fast, slow and spiky: Matt Locke is well worth reading on his favourite topic, attention – ‘The ways in which audiences’ attention can be driven to new culture is infinitely more complex than in the late 20th century.’
• Birthday blogging: a thoughtful and positive post from Jason Mittell about five years of blogging as a television academic – ‘I can say with certainty that no professional decision has had more of an impact on my career than starting this blog, aside from the major geographical & personal shifts of choosing a graduate school and accepting a job.’
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