Andre Breton's Nadja. Andre Breton, father of Surrealism, author of the Surrealist Manifesto.
Andre Breton
Andre Breton's Nadja. Andre Breton, father of Surrealism, author of the Surrealist Manifesto.
alfred jarry the father of pata
Alfred Jarry (8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) created and coined "Pataphysics", as he defined as "the science of imaginary solutions, which symbolically attributes the properties of objects, described by their virtuality, to their lineaments".
La petite morte
la petite morte -- the little death, a metaphor for orgasm. sometimes understood as a brief bout of melancholy after orgasm (post-coital tristesse)
Danse Macabre:
Dance of Death, the universality of death; no matter one's station in life, the dance of death unites all.
memento mori & vivere
memento mori: 1. remember that you must die. 2. a reminder of death or mortality.
memento vivere: 1. remember to live. 2. a reminder of life.
Lewis Carroll's ALICE
lewis carroll, born charles dodgson, took this photo of alice liddell, aged 6, 1858. carroll marked special days of his life by placing a white stone on his calendar. the day he met alice liddell is marked with a white stone. carroll met the liddell's in 1855; he entertained the children with picnics, and boat rides; he photographed them, alice--his favorite. in 1863, carroll and the liddell's had a sudden falling-out. the cause of the rift is debated, but alice is suspected as the main reason.
23 skidoo
A friend's father attempted to explain to me what "23 skidoo" means. In the beginning it seemed to be a shooing away word, sort of like skedaddle. But it eventually morphed into a cool thing to say when one was departing. Sort of the way people said in the 90s (and probably continue to say), "Let's bounce" or "let's jet". Various origins of the term are suspected; the one I like to believe comes from the Flatiron Building in New York:"The first building to become a romantic symbol of New York was the Flatiron Building... It was not only a building that appealed to high-art interests ... but this building also entered popular culture. It is at a triangular site where Broadway and Fifth Avenue—the two most important streets of New York—meet at Madison Square, and because of the juxtaposition of the streets and the park across the street, there was a wind-tunnel effect here. In the early twentieth century, men would hang out on the corner here on Twenty-third Street and watch the wind blowing women's dresses up so that they could catch a little bit of ankle. This entered into popular culture and there are hundreds of postcards and illustrations of women with their dresses blowing up in front of the Flatiron Building. And it supposedly is where the slang expression "23 skidoo" comes from because the police would come and give the voyeurs the 23 skidoo to tell them to get out of the area."
from: http://ci.columbia.edu/0240s/0242_2/0242_2_s5_text.html
After our "23 skidoo" conversation, I endeavored to elucidate my friend's father on how the word "word" has evolved into various forms and meanings such as "word up", or just "word" for "yes" or an agreement of sorts. awh, trade-sies.
the werther effect
The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was published in 1774. The epistolary novel was widely celebrated in its time, influencing young men's fashion, and suicides. As a source of copycat suicide, it carries the reputation of being the first case in history of this effect, came to be known as the 'Werther Effect'. Apparently myriad young romantic men like Werther were killing themselves in similar fashion, and the book was banned in several countries. Unlike Werther, Goethe did not commit suicide, even though the novel has parallels to Goethe's real life.
Sous les pavés, la plage!
"Beneath the paving stones - the beach!" - Sous les pavés, la plage! - Anonymous graffiti, Paris 1968
the opening of Moby Dick
Call me Ishmael. Some years ago -- never mind how long precisely -- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off -- then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.
Festen aka The Celebration
a Dogme 95 film, the darkest Danish festen (celebration) of the family, by Thomas Vinterberg and Mogens Rukov, 1998.
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