MONDAY was the birthday of titan akira kurosawa, born 1910, one of the guys who got me into international cinema and japanese film. from him i ventured into ozu, mizoguchi, ichikawa's "burmese harp" and takeshi kitano... but will never forget first time i saw "rashomon."dont want to say too much more lest i bias the poll (to right) but a towering artist with more range than usually acknowledged. i … [Read more...]
Archives for March 25, 2009
Hats off to Oscar Wilde
LET'S have a big irish "cheers" for oscar wilde, winner of my "world's coolest irishman" poll, which just expired. (he drew slightly more than a third of votes.) for much of the poll, joyce (whose "dubliners effectively taught me to read) was leading, but st. oscar made a last minute rally. yeats, that master of swoony celtic romanticism (and later, crisp, steely modernism) came close. van … [Read more...]