The Weekly Wonder Post
Smart books, a visionary filmmaker, and a trip to a volcanic island.
Another superb An Art Apart week just passed by. Did you have a chance to check out all the new material at the site? First there was a recommendation of ten amazing books that need to be solidly integrated in spines and minds alike. Classics all of them (some more paranoid than others, and probably justifiably so)…
Then I posted my 2014 interview with Kenneth Anger, developed from the Cinemagician film project (2019) and textually published here for the very first time.
“All of these things helped create an insulated bubble in which Mr Anger was revered and respected, apparently beyond good and evil and certainly beyond criticism. I have, in part, helped this image making along. I first met Anger in Hollywood in 1990 and met him many times since then: interviewing him, writing about his films, and reviewing many different facets of his work. One extra special occasion was in 2008, when he was invited to talk at Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen, Denmark, to play with his musical project ”Kenneth Anger’s Technicolor Skull” at the same venue and then, the following day, to sit in at a Questions & Answers session with students at the renowned Danish Film School. I was the moderator of all these events, and it was a great chance to get more behind the scenes than usual, and thereby to get to know him better.”
Check out my Kenneth Anger interview here.
Then it was time to head out into the world. While at Lanzarote some years ago I wrote this little travel piece about “diametrical imperialism.” I still find it funny, and would love to go back to this hot lava rock island at some point.
“Once upon a time Charles Darwin was denied access to study the unique flora and fauna of the Canary Islands because of a quarantaine. It may be that his ghost is extracting revenge by sending hordes of British victims of natural selection back to this very place. The revenge aspect can probably be traced even further back than that, to the dispute between Queen Elisabeth I and Spanish King Felipe II. When appearances can’t be kept up with neither stiff upper lip nor real soldiers (vide: the Falklands war), send tourists instead!”
Check out my Lanzarote adventures here.
Yes, another productive week just passed by… Thank you for being a paid subscriber, and thereby making my work possible... Have a really great weekend!
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