“Peter has a great range from comedy to drama. He could break your heart or he could make you laugh.” ~Director William Friedkin
To honor a handsomely disheveled, gruff-voiced and lovable actor who has passed away, here’s a beautiful scene from Wim Wender’s Wings of Desire:
Read more about how Falk came to play an ex-angel in the classic German romantic fantasy film here. (Via moonandserpent.)
A surreal and haunting photograph taken in Cambodia in 1970, deep in the mangrove swamps of the Ca Mau Peninsula (this was an actual medical situation, not a publicity setup):
Photograph by Vo Anh Khanh © National Geographic Society
In 2002, it was included in curator Doug Niven’s Another Vietnam: Pictures of the War from the Other Side— the first ever exhibition of Vietnam War images by North Vietnamese photographers, presented at the International Center of Photography.
As a wire service photographer in Cambodia from 1991-96, I worked on occasional assignments in nearby Saigon. There I got to see firsthand images from the “other side.” On the same tree-lined street where American war correspondents had offices during the Vietnam War, grimy street kids now peddled war memorabilia, such as fake U.S. Army dog tags, Zippo lighters, and handmade black-and-white postcards of the conflict. While the images they sold were not very high quality, their existence suggested to me that more photographs must exist. Thus began the adventure of rediscovering lost Vietnamese-made war photographs.
During meetings with various communist officials over endless cups of bitter green tea, doors slowly began to open. Word spread that a young American was trying to collect and print photographers’ war negatives. Soon, everyone wanted to help. Entire archives were opened up, and tables overflowed with catalogues of images, both good and bad. One photographer brought me trash bags of dusty, curling negatives, none of them ever printed before. Another photographer kept his pristine film airtight in an old U.S. ammunition case, packed with roasted rice to absorb the moisture.
Ultimately, I was able to locate thirty surviving war photographers from all corners of Vietnam, as well as thousands of pictures by photographers who had long since died. The living photographers shared their stories with me, and I worked with them to edit and print their old film. From hundreds of such encounters, this exhibition emerged.
Another Vietnam is now available as a book, published by National Geographic Press. Visit Nivens’ site here.
This summer’s surprise feelgood literary hit for exhausted parents has now been narrated by Samuel Fuckin’ Jackson (you can download it for free from Audible right now). And, if that’s not enough for ya, word has it Werner Fuckin’ Herzog is going recording an official rendition as well. EPIC WIN.
Click here to listen to the official Jackson narration. Below, a very recent live recording of Herzog:
A choice cut of trippy hippie spiritual subvertising:
via Gammacounter
This clip aired on USA Network’s classic gonzo variety show Night Flight at some point in the 80s or 90s. Scripture is from The Book of John, 3:16. Original source of the clip/name of “reader” unknown… but it has a faint whiff of proselytization to it, eh?
YESSSSSS. Vegan Black Metal Chef has a new episode, and a KVLT new website. (Honestly? It’s not kvlt at all. It’s actually kinda sweet.) “AAAHHHHHHHHH. VEGAN COOKING IS SO MUCH FUN.” \m/
An uncharacteristically tranquil good morning to you, comrades. Yet this collection of clips is oddly invigorating– especially if you watch it full screen, and you’ve got a nice pair of headphones:
Via Paige, who also recommends this wonderful auditory rainforest respite.
“These are amazing HD forest ‘outtake’ clips- cruising through Lago Preto Preserve in the Peruvian Amazon in a canoe…which we captured while filming a documentary– Uakari: Secrets of the English Monkey for Animal Planet, BBC and CBC. These clips are intended to just give you a feel for what it’s like to travel through a flooded Amazon rainforest- sights and sounds.”
Cyriak never fails to amaze. (Or nauseate.)
(Via Siege.)
Some thought-provoking, intense, and intensely heartrending clips from Dark Girls, an upcoming documentary by Bill Duke and D. Channsin Berry that examines “the deep-seated biases and attitudes about skin color– particularly dark skinned women, outside of and within the Black American culture.”
The film is slated for an October premier at the International Black Film Festival in Nashville. Follow Dark Girls on Facebook for updates.
Probably one of the more despicable leads you’ll read in American news this week, via the Orlando Sentinel:
Robin Brown was thrown in a Florida jail on felony charges of marijuana possession three months after sheriff deputy Dominic Raimondi mistook the sage she had in her backpack for pot. A field test had yielded a false positive, and after Raimondi filed his report, the State Attorney’s Office ordered for Brown’s arrest without ever conducting a crime lab narcotics test.
The 49 year old birdwatcher was taken out of her place of work in handcuffs and driven down to the station to be stripped, subjected to a body cavity search, and spend the night in jail. Such was Brown’s punishment for possession of a personal use-sized amount of marijuana plant… that wasn’t actually marijuana plant.
News of this story came to my attention via my friend Stephen, who comments: “Body cavity searches are getting to be a disturbingly common occurrence. Folks complain about sex education corrupting children, but when law enforcement wants to poke around inside your orifices, that’s just patriotic.”
There are many, many different ways in which Robin Brown’s story disturbs me. I’m not even sure what aspect to focus on; I just know that I owe it to myself to think actively and critically about what an increase in occurrences like this might mean, and that reportage of incidents like this should be shared as widely as possible.