Archive for the 'Culture' Category

Elizabeth Taylor in Iran Part II

Monday, February 27th, 2023
  • The Dazzling Beauty of Elizabeth Taylor in Iran

  • Elizabeth Taylor was born on Feb 27, 1932

  • Elizabeth Taylor Her Place in the Sun”> (Previous Post)

  • Monty Clift was her best friend

  • 1taylorjames
    (Taylor with James Dean)

  • HIV Activism
    Taylor was one of the first celebrities to participate in HIV/AIDS activism and helped to raise more than $270 million for the cause.[65] She began her philanthropic work after becoming frustrated with the fact that very little was being done to combat the disease despite the media attention.[66] She later explained for Vanity Fair that she “decided that with my name, I could open certain doors, that I was a commodity in myself – and I’m not talking as an actress. I could take the fame I’d resented and tried to get away from for so many years – but you can never get away from it – and use it to do some good. I wanted to retire, but the tabloids wouldn’t let me. So, I thought: If you’re going to screw me over, I’ll use you

    Julian Sands Remembered by his best friend John Malkovich

    Friday, February 24th, 2023
  • John Malkovich on best friend Julian Sands, a storyteller and so funny. (guardian)

    One of the last conversations John Malkovich had with Julian Sands, his best friend of 40 years, concerned how to prepare yourself for death. You can see that conversation in their new film, Seneca – On the Creation of Earthquakes, which premiered at the Berlin film festival this week. Malkovich fears it will be their last together.

  • See a photo of Julian Sands and John Malcovich when they were in “The Killing Fields


  • (With N. Kinski and Julian Sands in “Night Sun” directed by Taviani brothers)

    Julian Sands
    Julian Sands, Harold Pinter the pregnant pause extended

    In his one-man show “A Celebration of Harold Pinter,” which he performs tonight at the Whittier College Writers Festival, the 55 year-old Brit reveals Pinter’s lesser known side—his surprising warmth and tenderness, as evidenced in his poetry, prose, letters, and the recollections and anecdotes of friends, including Sands himself. John Malkovich, with whom Sands previously worked in The Killing Fields, directs.

  • It is the dead of night,

    The long dead look out towards
    The new dead
    Walking towards them

    There is a soft heartbeat
    As the dead embrace
    Those who are long dead
    And those of the new dead
    Walking towards them

    They cry and they kiss
    As they meet again
    For the first and last time

    Harold Pinter, 2002

  • Yeh Ballet Julian Sands and Netflix India
    Fun ballet film, Julian Sands played a wild ballet instructor.

  • Julian Sands on youtube -5 questions asked.

  • “Land of Dreams” Shiela Vand, Matt Dillon Directed by Shirin Neshat

    Saturday, February 18th, 2023

  • Shirin Neshat Builds a Land of Dreams


  • (Shirin Neshat and Shiela Wand)

    The process of making Land of Dreams was a surreal one, befitting a tale about an Iranian stealing dreams from New Mexican locals for research. Neshat drove from New York and shot the film in seven weeks with a small crew, right before the second wave of the pandemic reached the Southwest, all while “getting people to believe in a film which was about America but made from the perspective of an Iranian American director.”

    Shiela Vand was the girl walks home alone directed by Ana Lily Amirpour

  • Shirin & Matt Dillon

    Matt Dillon
    Verified “What a wonderful experience working with the great artist Shirin Neshat on her film Land of Dreams. A joy to work with!”

  • Isabella Rossellini spoke about “Land of Dreams”

    Then, Shoja, your partner, wrote this film Land of Dreams with Jean-Claude Carrière. So, there was a further connection with close friends and collaborators and now, we are family.
    SHIRIN NESHAT: I’ve also known of you for many years – from your work as a model, then as an actor in Blue Velvet (1986). I was a huge fan. When we started to socialize, I always wondered if I could have the honor to work with you. I was waiting for the opportunity and then came Land of Dreams. The day we finished filming you, we sent a video message to Jean-Claude,who was on his deathbed. He sent a message back and two days later he passed away.

  • Script by Jean Claude Carriere (Previous post)


  • (Photo of Matt Dillon by Masatoshi Nagase)
    Happy birthday Matt Dillon! (Feb 18)

    Carlos Saura (4 January 1932 – 10 February 2023)

    Friday, February 10th, 2023
  • Carlos Saura wiki

  • Carlos Saura Criterion

    Directed by Carlos Saura

    Reality and fantasy, dreams and memories flow freely into one another in the haunting, layered works of iconoclastic auteur Carlos Saura, arguably the most important Spanish filmmaker to emerge between Luis Buñuel and Pedro Almodóvar. Achieving international renown during the repressive years of Francisco Franco’s rule, Saura became a model for how to make dissident political cinema under an authoritarian regime, using potent metaphors and symbolism to dodge censors and examine his nation’s troubled twentieth-century history. In complex and often controversial works like PEPPERMINT FRAPPÉ, COUSIN ANGELICA, and CRÍA CUERVOS . . . —frequently starring his longtime partner Geraldine Chaplin—Saura explored the legacy of fascism and its devastating effects on a generation of Spanish citizens, while in often-overlooked post-Franco films such as DEPRISA, DEPRISA he captured the turbulence of a society experiencing the first shockwaves of liberalization.

    Paco Rabanne Iconic Fashion Designer Died at 88.

    Friday, February 3rd, 2023

  • Audrey Hepburn in “Two for the Road” 1967 publicity shot wearing dress by Paco Rabanne.

  • Iconic Fashion Designer Paco Rabanne dead at 88

    Fashion designer Paco Rabanne, famous for his Space Age metal mesh looks worn by celebrities including Jane Fonda, Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin, died Friday at the age of 88 at his home in Portsall, France.
    His death was confirmed by Spanish group Puig, which owns Rabanne’s fashion and fragrance businesses.
    “Paco Rabanne made transgression magnetic. Who else could induce fashionable Parisian women to clamor for dresses made of plastic and metal,” said Jose Manuel Albesa, president of Puig’s beauty and fashion division, in a statement.
    “That radical, rebellious spirit set him apart: There is only one Rabanne.”


  • (Paco Rabanne with Salvador Dali )
    Paco Rabanne Fashion Biographies.

    During the sixties Rabanne’s oversized earrings, sunglasses made of fur and other accessories became a huge media and commercial success. His material of choice, rhodoid, could create infinite combinations of colours and form which mirrored the effects produced by Op Art.
    Desiring to make his fashion more accessible, Rabanne launched a series of paper dresses in 1967. The soft, lightweight fabric was a cheaper alternative which Rabanne used with coloured adhesive tape to bind it together.
    In 1969 Rabanne introduced fragrances to his company. This marked the beginning of the label revolutionising the perfume industry and becoming a long lasting success in the market.
    Rabanne continued to work with unusual materials for his trimmings and fabrics. 1968 saw a beaten metal aluminium jersey and 1970 saw dresses made out of linked buttons. In 1972 Rabanne used ostrich feathers attached with Velcro. 1982 saw dresses made with glass reflectors and in 1984 Rabanne used chainmail.

    Melvil Poupaud – Jan 26, 2023

    Thursday, January 26th, 2023

  • Happy birthday Melvil Poupaud

  • Ozon & Poupaud

    By The Grace of God wiki

    It premiered at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival and won the Jury Grand Prix

    Observer review

    François Ozon’s ‘By the Grace of God’ Is One of the Best Films of 2019

  • Red Visitor Interview Melvil Poupaud

  • 1LisbonMelvil
    Melville as a child actor made his first film “City of Pirates” directed by Raul Ruiz

  • 1brokenMelville
    Parker Posey and Melvil Poupaud in Broken English (Z. Cassavates directed)

    Named after author ‘Herman Melville’ by his mother. (via IMDB)
    anyways 1
    Laurence Anyways directed by Xavier Dolan.

    Great interview on Xavier Dolan Melvil was eloquent. (Youtube)

  • 1aTimetoleave
    Time to Leave (starring with Jeanne Moreau) (Melvil was directed twice by Francois Ozon, Time to Leave and Hideaway).

  • ASummersTale-5-580x424

    Eric Rohmer – Melvil Poupaud

    Melvil Poupaud Reflects on Director Éric Rohmer and His Film, ‘A Summer’s Tale’

  • 1aaCatherineDCrime

  • Happy New Lunar Year of the Rabbit 2023

    Saturday, January 21st, 2023

  • (Photo of Rabbit by Fung Lin Hall)

  • CHOJU GIGA (鳥獣戯画) “, the first manga in Japan. It was written 900 years ago by TOBA-SOJO. Rabits, monkeys, frogs, foxes behave like human.

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  • Sad news from the last year.

    (Lee Chang Dong – Yoon Jeong-hee)
    Yoon Jeong Hee passed away on Jan 19, 2023. She was directed by Lee Chang Dong in Poetry.

  • Happy birthday Jim Jarmsuch

  • Goodbye Gina Lollobrigida, Actress, Photojournalist (4 July 1927 – 16 January 2023)

    Monday, January 16th, 2023

  • (With Gerard Philipe in Fanfan La Tulipe)

    Gina Lollobrigida

  • Dame in the Game: The Unexpected Feminism of Gina Lollobrigida

  • Throughout her acting career, Lollobrigida never abandoned her dreams of returning to the fine arts, and she used her time on set as a master class in photography. By the late 1960s, she was an accomplished photojournalist and over the course of her career, she photographed as diverse figures as Paul Newman, Salvador Dali, and Henry Kissinger. Most notably, Lollobrigida became so skilled in her photojournalism that she managed to secure an exclusive interview with Fidel Castro in 1972. Speaking of this incredible opportunity, Lollobrigida noted that she was shocked to discover Castro was more nervous to meet her than she him. Inspired by this rare access, Lollobrigida produced, directed, and wrote a documentary short entitled Ritratto di Fidel. Years before Cuba would be reopened to America, she secured a personal and in-depth look at one of the world’s most reclusive political figures.

    Lollobridiga retired from acting in 1997, but she continued to pursue an avid career as an accomplished photographer, painter, and sculptor. Her work has been displayed all over the world and has won numerous accolades, including the “Legion of Honor” as “artiste de valeur” from France.

    “Argentina 1985” & “She Said” – Witness for the Prosecution

    Sunday, January 15th, 2023

  • Happy birthday Ricardo Darin Jan 16
    (Peter Lanzani played Luis Moreno Ocampo.)

  • Luis Moreno Ocampo on Argentina 1985 and Why Democracy is at Risk Today (Amy Goodman Democracy Now)


  • (Jody Kantor, Megan Twohey, Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan)

    Maria Schrader directed “She Said” – Vanity Fair

    The “Sacred Duty” of “She Said”
    In their first interviews about the film, the stars—and the journalists they play—talk about the big-screen adaptation of the groundbreaking investigation into Harvey Weinstein.

  • A Stranger in Shanghai Based on Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s Diary

    Thursday, January 5th, 2023
  • NHK World on Demand till June 2023

    China is tumultuous in 1921 when the famed Japanese author of Rashomon, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, visits Shanghai as a correspondent. Here he encounters revolutionaries, courtesans and much more…

    Ryuhei Matsuda who played Ryunosuke Akutagawa was directed by Nagisa Oshima in Gohatto (御法度), also known as Taboo.

  • Akutagawa Ryunosuke
    KappaRyunosuke Akutagawa
    drawing at the bottom by an author.
    Akira Kurosawa made “Rashomon” world famous with Toshiro Mifune playing the bandit.

  • Adieu Arata Isozaki & Vivienne Westwood

    Thursday, December 29th, 2022

  • (Joshua Tree) ‘

  • Dezeen.com

  • Arata Isozaki Himalayas Center Zendai

  • In Pictures. gallery

    Vivien Westwood & Greta Thunberg

    Vivienne Westwood says Greta Thunberg should run the world

    ‘If Greta was world controller it would be great’

  • Joe Strummer by Masayoshi Sukita and Haruki Murakami Library

    Friday, December 23rd, 2022
  • Joe Strummer
    (Photo of Joe Strummer by Masayoshi Sukita)
    Thanks to Actor/Photographer Masatoshi Nagase who posted this on FB (Dec 23, 2022).


  • (Yoko Ogawa and Haruki Murakami)
    Murakami adds voice to his work in reading with Yoko Ogawa

  • See a film based on Yoko Ogawa – Professor and his beloved equation

  • Murakami Library from Asahi Shinbun

    AUTHORS ALIVE!: Murakami spins best of Stan Getz while he talks about jazz great


  • (3 books by Haruki Murakami Photo by Fung Lin Hall)
    On the right:
    Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
    Left bottom
    Haruki Murakami, Illustration by Anzai Mizumaru
    Haruki Murakami Usagi Oishi Furansujin 1st Edition Mizumaru Anzai
    The Top : The Scrap – 1980 Nostalgia.