Reposted by Matthew Butcher
Eleven years ago, I wrote to Tom Stoppard to ask about this coup de théâtre from 1949. It took me down an unexpected rabbit hole - in memory of Stoppard, here's what I found.
November 30, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Eleven years ago, I wrote to Tom Stoppard to ask about this coup de théâtre from 1949. It took me down an unexpected rabbit hole - in memory of Stoppard, here's what I found.
You dare call me a son of a bitch? Sir, I have seen many examples of perversion in my time, but your erotic obsession with your carpet is probably the most grotesque and certainly the most boring I have ever encountered. You're more to be scorned than pitied. Good day, Charlie Brown.
November 24, 2025 at 7:29 AM
You dare call me a son of a bitch? Sir, I have seen many examples of perversion in my time, but your erotic obsession with your carpet is probably the most grotesque and certainly the most boring I have ever encountered. You're more to be scorned than pitied. Good day, Charlie Brown.
R.I.P. Clearsky, at least in any usable form. People complained about it, but without it, how would I have ever learned that an Asylum sci-fi director had blocked me for arguing that Paul McCartney sang "in which we live in" and not "... we're livin'" in "Live and Let Die"?
November 17, 2025 at 12:00 PM
R.I.P. Clearsky, at least in any usable form. People complained about it, but without it, how would I have ever learned that an Asylum sci-fi director had blocked me for arguing that Paul McCartney sang "in which we live in" and not "... we're livin'" in "Live and Let Die"?
1. Lee Marvin
2. Anna Karina
3. Mel Gibson
4. Robert Duvall
5. Michel Constantin
6. Jim Brown
7. Mark Wahlberg
8. Peter Coyote
9. Jason Statham
2. Anna Karina
3. Mel Gibson
4. Robert Duvall
5. Michel Constantin
6. Jim Brown
7. Mark Wahlberg
8. Peter Coyote
9. Jason Statham
October 4, 2025 at 1:04 PM
1. Lee Marvin
2. Anna Karina
3. Mel Gibson
4. Robert Duvall
5. Michel Constantin
6. Jim Brown
7. Mark Wahlberg
8. Peter Coyote
9. Jason Statham
2. Anna Karina
3. Mel Gibson
4. Robert Duvall
5. Michel Constantin
6. Jim Brown
7. Mark Wahlberg
8. Peter Coyote
9. Jason Statham
Best first watches, August
Old: TRAP FOR CINDERELLA (1965) — An amnesiac burn victim (Dany Carrel) learns that she's a wealthy heiress (Dany Carrel) with a newly dead cousin (Dany Carrel). Okay, you can see where this is going. And it gets there, and then it careens right on past.
New: SEVEN VEILS
Old: TRAP FOR CINDERELLA (1965) — An amnesiac burn victim (Dany Carrel) learns that she's a wealthy heiress (Dany Carrel) with a newly dead cousin (Dany Carrel). Okay, you can see where this is going. And it gets there, and then it careens right on past.
New: SEVEN VEILS
August 31, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Best first watches, August
Old: TRAP FOR CINDERELLA (1965) — An amnesiac burn victim (Dany Carrel) learns that she's a wealthy heiress (Dany Carrel) with a newly dead cousin (Dany Carrel). Okay, you can see where this is going. And it gets there, and then it careens right on past.
New: SEVEN VEILS
Old: TRAP FOR CINDERELLA (1965) — An amnesiac burn victim (Dany Carrel) learns that she's a wealthy heiress (Dany Carrel) with a newly dead cousin (Dany Carrel). Okay, you can see where this is going. And it gets there, and then it careens right on past.
New: SEVEN VEILS
Best first watches, July
Old: THE SMALL WORLD OF SAMMY LEE — Great, seedy drama about a Soho strip-club comedian frantically trying to scrape up enough cash for his gambling debts.
New: Um. FINAL DESTINATION BLOODLINES, I guess.
Old: THE SMALL WORLD OF SAMMY LEE — Great, seedy drama about a Soho strip-club comedian frantically trying to scrape up enough cash for his gambling debts.
New: Um. FINAL DESTINATION BLOODLINES, I guess.
August 31, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Best first watches, July
Old: THE SMALL WORLD OF SAMMY LEE — Great, seedy drama about a Soho strip-club comedian frantically trying to scrape up enough cash for his gambling debts.
New: Um. FINAL DESTINATION BLOODLINES, I guess.
Old: THE SMALL WORLD OF SAMMY LEE — Great, seedy drama about a Soho strip-club comedian frantically trying to scrape up enough cash for his gambling debts.
New: Um. FINAL DESTINATION BLOODLINES, I guess.
I am the only person on Letterboxd who's seen TOKYO TWILIGHT. That's TOKYO TWILIGHT the not-terribly-good horror comedy from 2013 and not, you know, the other one.
August 30, 2025 at 10:00 AM
I am the only person on Letterboxd who's seen TOKYO TWILIGHT. That's TOKYO TWILIGHT the not-terribly-good horror comedy from 2013 and not, you know, the other one.
Best first watches, June
Old: DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS — Stands out from other Hammer vampire pictures thanks to Christopher Lee's atypical performance; he embodies hungering menace without speaking a word. Andrew Keir's also great in a Van Helsing-ish part as an irascible priest.
New: SINNERS
Old: DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS — Stands out from other Hammer vampire pictures thanks to Christopher Lee's atypical performance; he embodies hungering menace without speaking a word. Andrew Keir's also great in a Van Helsing-ish part as an irascible priest.
New: SINNERS
July 31, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Best first watches, June
Old: DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS — Stands out from other Hammer vampire pictures thanks to Christopher Lee's atypical performance; he embodies hungering menace without speaking a word. Andrew Keir's also great in a Van Helsing-ish part as an irascible priest.
New: SINNERS
Old: DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS — Stands out from other Hammer vampire pictures thanks to Christopher Lee's atypical performance; he embodies hungering menace without speaking a word. Andrew Keir's also great in a Van Helsing-ish part as an irascible priest.
New: SINNERS
One of the weirder bits of subtitling I've seen was for RED POST ON ESCHER STREET. At one point a guy says 「俺お前の映画大好きだったよ!」, which pretty much anyone would translate as "I loved your movie!"
The subtitler went with "I totally respect the aesthetics of your work." The hell?
The subtitler went with "I totally respect the aesthetics of your work." The hell?
July 6, 2025 at 3:17 PM
One of the weirder bits of subtitling I've seen was for RED POST ON ESCHER STREET. At one point a guy says 「俺お前の映画大好きだったよ!」, which pretty much anyone would translate as "I loved your movie!"
The subtitler went with "I totally respect the aesthetics of your work." The hell?
The subtitler went with "I totally respect the aesthetics of your work." The hell?
This fuss over THE SALT PATH has me wondering — has anyone ever asked Herzog about FAMILY ROMANCE, LLC, and how the supposed "rental family" business that inspired it turned out to be a hoax perpetrated by the film's lead actor?
Mind you, it wouldn't shock me if Herzog knew the truth all along ....
Mind you, it wouldn't shock me if Herzog knew the truth all along ....
July 6, 2025 at 2:25 PM
This fuss over THE SALT PATH has me wondering — has anyone ever asked Herzog about FAMILY ROMANCE, LLC, and how the supposed "rental family" business that inspired it turned out to be a hoax perpetrated by the film's lead actor?
Mind you, it wouldn't shock me if Herzog knew the truth all along ....
Mind you, it wouldn't shock me if Herzog knew the truth all along ....
You'll be interested to learn that the Japanese titles for the Final Destination movies are as follows:
FINAL DESTINATION
DEADCOASTER
FINAL DEADCOASTER
FINAL DEADCIRCUIT 3D
FINAL DEADBRIDGE
It's looking like the new one will just be FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINE (with no terminal "s").
FINAL DESTINATION
DEADCOASTER
FINAL DEADCOASTER
FINAL DEADCIRCUIT 3D
FINAL DEADBRIDGE
It's looking like the new one will just be FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINE (with no terminal "s").
July 4, 2025 at 5:01 AM
You'll be interested to learn that the Japanese titles for the Final Destination movies are as follows:
FINAL DESTINATION
DEADCOASTER
FINAL DEADCOASTER
FINAL DEADCIRCUIT 3D
FINAL DEADBRIDGE
It's looking like the new one will just be FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINE (with no terminal "s").
FINAL DESTINATION
DEADCOASTER
FINAL DEADCOASTER
FINAL DEADCIRCUIT 3D
FINAL DEADBRIDGE
It's looking like the new one will just be FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINE (with no terminal "s").
I like the Hungarian cover art for William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy better than the British or the American, but they never published Burning Chrome. The upshot is that I've spent two hours making a fake Hungarian e-book cover for a book I haven't read. Maybe not the most productive use of my time.
July 3, 2025 at 9:49 AM
I like the Hungarian cover art for William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy better than the British or the American, but they never published Burning Chrome. The upshot is that I've spent two hours making a fake Hungarian e-book cover for a book I haven't read. Maybe not the most productive use of my time.
Best first watches, May
Old: SPL II — A conceptual "sequel" to SPL. The melodrama reaches atmospheric heights this time — feuding brothers, anguished cops, involuntary organ transplants, a small girl with leukaemia — and the action scenes are propulsive enough that it all works.
New: BLACK BAG
Old: SPL II — A conceptual "sequel" to SPL. The melodrama reaches atmospheric heights this time — feuding brothers, anguished cops, involuntary organ transplants, a small girl with leukaemia — and the action scenes are propulsive enough that it all works.
New: BLACK BAG
June 30, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Best first watches, May
Old: SPL II — A conceptual "sequel" to SPL. The melodrama reaches atmospheric heights this time — feuding brothers, anguished cops, involuntary organ transplants, a small girl with leukaemia — and the action scenes are propulsive enough that it all works.
New: BLACK BAG
Old: SPL II — A conceptual "sequel" to SPL. The melodrama reaches atmospheric heights this time — feuding brothers, anguished cops, involuntary organ transplants, a small girl with leukaemia — and the action scenes are propulsive enough that it all works.
New: BLACK BAG
I've been plugging away at the Amicus Productions filmography — JUST FOR FUN was the hardest to track down — and tonight, with MADHOUSE, I thought I'd finally watched them all. But it turns out they're back from the dead and have a new horror anthology coming out this year. Ah well. One to go, then.
June 15, 2025 at 3:22 PM
I've been plugging away at the Amicus Productions filmography — JUST FOR FUN was the hardest to track down — and tonight, with MADHOUSE, I thought I'd finally watched them all. But it turns out they're back from the dead and have a new horror anthology coming out this year. Ah well. One to go, then.
An interesting piece about subtitles that convey an uncertain grasp of regional dialect
I hadn't noticed, but Nornes explained the playful subtitling and the process that brought to it on Letterboxd in February:
letterboxd.com/markus_norne...
letterboxd.com/markus_norne...
June 8, 2025 at 5:52 AM
An interesting piece about subtitles that convey an uncertain grasp of regional dialect
Best first watches, April
Old: PLAY DIRTY — A cynical heist movie transplanted to the North African campaign in WWII. Distrust and backstabbing, long procedural sequences of professionals doing their jobs, and no heroics.
New: IT'S NOT ME — Yeah, it's a Godard pastiche. But it's a great one.
Old: PLAY DIRTY — A cynical heist movie transplanted to the North African campaign in WWII. Distrust and backstabbing, long procedural sequences of professionals doing their jobs, and no heroics.
New: IT'S NOT ME — Yeah, it's a Godard pastiche. But it's a great one.
May 31, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Best first watches, April
Old: PLAY DIRTY — A cynical heist movie transplanted to the North African campaign in WWII. Distrust and backstabbing, long procedural sequences of professionals doing their jobs, and no heroics.
New: IT'S NOT ME — Yeah, it's a Godard pastiche. But it's a great one.
Old: PLAY DIRTY — A cynical heist movie transplanted to the North African campaign in WWII. Distrust and backstabbing, long procedural sequences of professionals doing their jobs, and no heroics.
New: IT'S NOT ME — Yeah, it's a Godard pastiche. But it's a great one.
Replace a title by a string of random alphanumeric characters and ruin a movie:
bhGjMQzicSkK5aJw
bhGjMQzicSkK5aJw
May 28, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Replace a title by a string of random alphanumeric characters and ruin a movie:
bhGjMQzicSkK5aJw
bhGjMQzicSkK5aJw
Today I learned that Albinoni's Adagio in G minor was not written by Albinoni, with the possible exception of the bass line; Remo Giozotto composed it in 1958, and when the piece turned up in LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD it was only three years old.
May 27, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Today I learned that Albinoni's Adagio in G minor was not written by Albinoni, with the possible exception of the bass line; Remo Giozotto composed it in 1958, and when the piece turned up in LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD it was only three years old.
Best first watches, March
Old: LES RENDEZ-VOUS D'ANNA — Meetings and partings in a nighttime of empty train stations, shabby hotels, and barren streets. There's little conversation in the usual sense; people monologue to each other, forever alone.
New: PRESENCE
Old: LES RENDEZ-VOUS D'ANNA — Meetings and partings in a nighttime of empty train stations, shabby hotels, and barren streets. There's little conversation in the usual sense; people monologue to each other, forever alone.
New: PRESENCE
April 30, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Best first watches, March
Old: LES RENDEZ-VOUS D'ANNA — Meetings and partings in a nighttime of empty train stations, shabby hotels, and barren streets. There's little conversation in the usual sense; people monologue to each other, forever alone.
New: PRESENCE
Old: LES RENDEZ-VOUS D'ANNA — Meetings and partings in a nighttime of empty train stations, shabby hotels, and barren streets. There's little conversation in the usual sense; people monologue to each other, forever alone.
New: PRESENCE
Reposted by Matthew Butcher
Some further thoughts on David Thomas this morning.
![I stopped working for Nick around Christmas 2000, and in the New Year David called me and asked me if I would reconsider. I found this hugely touching, but had to close a chapter on what was a pretty stressful working environment. But I loved going to see Ubu in subsequent years, even as his health declined and his grizzled onstage presence became more muted.
The last time I saw him was at the Moth Club in Hackney, about 7 years ago, where I was playing with Prescott. DT and a couple of other acts were on the bill, and the finale was to be an improvised affair with all of us onstage and David at the helm. Finally I was about to actually play some MUSIC with this guy who I'd watched perform so many times, biting my nails as he berated musicians and audience alike. He turned to me and said "Rhodri... give me [I actually can't remember what he told me to do, but let's say it was, uh, a moonlit river.]" I did my best to convey the essence of a moonlit river. He nodded. "I like that, keep it going." So I did as I was told. As usual.
He influenced my thinking in so many ways. His websites are full of eloquent pronouncements on the Right Way to do things – the rules of being on tour, his dislike of vinyl and so on – which I sometimes go and read just for fun, whether I agree with them or not. He was simply an extraordinary human being, and my heart goes out to all those people who were a lot closer to him than I was.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:55yvwroakuff4ihl5iijhnr4/bafkreic6nb7dmvo56rjxc2cnz2pd2qoy7o4uo7tgjsm23stoi6nzovxhue@jpeg)
April 24, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Some further thoughts on David Thomas this morning.
R.I.P. David Thomas, who resolutely trod his own path through more than fifty years of brilliant music.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=1hFT...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=1hFT...
Vacuum In My Head by Pere Ubu
YouTube video by Ubu Projex
m.youtube.com
April 24, 2025 at 7:08 AM
R.I.P. David Thomas, who resolutely trod his own path through more than fifty years of brilliant music.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=1hFT...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=1hFT...
Japanese vending machines usually aren't near as bizarre as their popular reputation, but I'll admit I was startled by this sriracha sauce machine in a quiet residential parking lot.
April 18, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Japanese vending machines usually aren't near as bizarre as their popular reputation, but I'll admit I was startled by this sriracha sauce machine in a quiet residential parking lot.
Reposted by Matthew Butcher
don'y ask me why I keep doing this...because I don't really know myself...
asian-docs.com/2025/04/17/f...
asian-docs.com/2025/04/17/f...
Found Footage Films, Compilation Documentary and Recycled Cinema in Japan: a preliminary study
This is an essay that grew out of two articles I wrote for this site last year. I submitted it for publication, but it was rejected. It is perhaps too vague and unfocused. Hopefully I will return t…
asian-docs.com
April 17, 2025 at 5:09 AM
don'y ask me why I keep doing this...because I don't really know myself...
asian-docs.com/2025/04/17/f...
asian-docs.com/2025/04/17/f...
A film that takes place where you're from
April 16, 2025 at 11:00 PM
A film that takes place where you're from