1.7.1939 - 8.8.2013
Friday, 9 August 2013
Sunday, 4 August 2013
Saturday, 3 August 2013
And then comes the ridiculous twist in the end. It hits like almost divine irony, somewhere far deeper than just an absurd joke (though it is that, too). Jason is one of the few artists (or writers) who can make existential aches seem droll, but it makes the smiles being provoked feel as honest as the ones we get when standing across from someone who makes the world feel a little less lonely.
Friday, 2 August 2013
Thursday, 1 August 2013
And I got hooked on scientology. Not as a religion! Just by watching documentaries. There are two by John Sweeney from BBC. That lead to listening to podcast interviews with Lawrence Wright, the author of scientology exposé Going Clear. It's quite fascinating, and mindboggling, to learn about this "church", which in fact is a big bully, attacking members who has gotten out and whose response to any criticism is to lie about everything and then dig up dirt about the accuser. Not to mention Xenu the intergalactic warlord.
Tuesday, 30 July 2013
Monday, 29 July 2013
Tuesday, 23 July 2013
Sunday, 21 July 2013
Tuesday, 16 July 2013
Sunday, 14 July 2013
Saturday, 13 July 2013
Friday, 12 July 2013
Thursday, 11 July 2013
Wednesday, 10 July 2013
Tuesday, 9 July 2013
Monday, 8 July 2013
Sunday, 7 July 2013
Saturday, 6 July 2013
Friday, 5 July 2013
The story takes place in Dublin, 1902. Zombies are roaming the streets. A group of friends gather for a last christmas dinner, trying to ward off the darkness. The zombies finally break through the doors, and help themselves to the dinner guests' brains. Anjelica Huston manages to escape with her husband. They hole up in an empty hotel and she tells him the tragic story of her first love. Then the husband turns into a zombie and eats her brain, as the snow is falling faintly through the universe, upon all the living and the dead.
Thursday, 4 July 2013
Publisher"s Weekly about Lost Cat:
A humorous PI story populated by animals takes a turn toward the absurd in the newest—and longest yet—graphic novel by Jason (Athos in America). Dan, a dog detective who evokes Humphrey Bogart’s down-on-their-luck antiheroes, is consumed by a chance connection brought about when he discovers a lost cat. Dan’s normal assignments are anything but feel-good; he spies on cheating spouses with the end result that no one is happy. When he finds a cat for Charlotte, a charming bookstore owner, he connects with her instantly, and when she disappears, he continues the conversation they might have had. An introduction of aliens to the plot adds a light and strange flavor, but echoes the protagonist’s feeling of loneliness in a strange world. Jason’s artwork is charming, and he evokes a surprising amount of pathos with a cartoon dog. The plot, an enjoyable crime noir lark that gives homage to The Big Sleep, is almost incidental to the surprisingly deep story about the relationships people create in their heads.
http://publishersweekly.com/978-1-60699-642-3
A humorous PI story populated by animals takes a turn toward the absurd in the newest—and longest yet—graphic novel by Jason (Athos in America). Dan, a dog detective who evokes Humphrey Bogart’s down-on-their-luck antiheroes, is consumed by a chance connection brought about when he discovers a lost cat. Dan’s normal assignments are anything but feel-good; he spies on cheating spouses with the end result that no one is happy. When he finds a cat for Charlotte, a charming bookstore owner, he connects with her instantly, and when she disappears, he continues the conversation they might have had. An introduction of aliens to the plot adds a light and strange flavor, but echoes the protagonist’s feeling of loneliness in a strange world. Jason’s artwork is charming, and he evokes a surprising amount of pathos with a cartoon dog. The plot, an enjoyable crime noir lark that gives homage to The Big Sleep, is almost incidental to the surprisingly deep story about the relationships people create in their heads.
http://publishersweekly.com/978-1-60699-642-3
Tuesday, 2 July 2013
Now this is more like it! A better screwball comedy, in my mind, than The Palm Beach Story. A witty script co-written by Billy Wilder, with Cooper in his prime rather than the old guy in Love In The Afternoon, Colbert is very appealing, they're great together and there's even Edward Everett Horton doing the Edward Everett Horton thing.
Monday, 1 July 2013
I saw this film on tv as a kid back in the 70s, but the only thing I remembered was the Are you a fish? scene. It should be a double feature with On The Beach, another End of the World in Australia film; there's a definitive millennium / 2012 feel to it, making it more relevant, not less, than when it was made. It's a slow film, possibly even a bit pretentious, but sometimes you miss that in movies, before reaching that haunting final image.
Sunday, 30 June 2013
Saturday, 29 June 2013
Friday, 28 June 2013
Thursday, 27 June 2013
Tuesday, 25 June 2013
What happened to Luc Besson? He made a couple of good films back in the days. I was hoping for something in the line of Judex or Irma Vep, but the film is more like a stupid comedy a clueless American Hollywood director would make. And Besson is French, goddammit! It has almost nothing to do with the Tardi comics, it's more like Indiana Jones meets The Mummy 3. Adèle is given a backstory, about a dead sister, to give her motivation. She's Adèle Blanc-Sec! She's supposed to be kind of a mystery! She doesn't need no stinkin' motivation! So, first Adéle, then Tintin, what's next?
The Palm Beach Story
Okay, it's a classic, it's screwball comedy, Preston Sturges, Claudette Colbert and everything, but I found it a bit hard to get into this film. It's far from It Happened One Night. What do we learn in the film?
Rich people sure are silly.
Foreigners sure are funny.
Black people (servants and porters) sure are stupid.
Maybe I was in the wrong mood... The film almost redeems itself in the ending, that actually is pretty funny, referring back to the crazy, unexplained opening credits.
Monday, 24 June 2013
Saturday, 22 June 2013
A good film, part road movie, part philosophical drama. Frears is more of a meat and potatoes director, less stylish than other Brits, like Ridley Scott and Alan Parker, but he gets the job done, the images never getting in the way of the story. A story that is quite hard to guess where it will end up. Only at the end does it stumble a bit. It reminded me of In Bruges; I wonder if it was an inspiration for Martin McDonagh.
If someone should send a hitman after me one day, I would like for it to be someone like John Hurt in this film, glum looking, with sunglasses and a cigarette dangling in the side of his mouth. I think that would be okay, a proper way to go. I'd put up less of a fight than if it was some prettyboy a la Clive Owen or someone. When Hurt takes off his glasses, there are worse things that will be the final thing you see. Looking into his haunted, tired eyes, it will, somehow, make sense.
Friday, 21 June 2013
Wednesday, 19 June 2013
Thanks for doing a great job with the translation of my stories, for inviting me to Seattle, for meeting you and Lynn, for driving me out to Roslyn where they filmed Northern Exposure, for e-mail exchanges about Brian De Palma, and most of all for a dream come true. I will miss you, Kim. Hvil i fred...
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