. . . Nestor Carbonell is GORGEOUS!
(Yeah, I know, he's married, and all.
But, still . . . )
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Zaragoza Bridge Pavilion
Zaha Hadid's work can be uneven, in the quality of both design and construction, but I find her "Bridge Pavilion" for the Zaragoza Expo to be fascinating in terms of both form and texture. The skin of the structure possesses a porousness and openness that I have not seen in Hadid's work before, and I find her deployment of it in the context of her forms in this instance particularly sympathetic. It will be interesting to see if she explores this new porousness further.
Fernando Guerra's photography of the structure is also sympathetic, and has led me to an appreciation of contemporary Portuguese architecture - which can be both strikingly and subtlely sensual - in general.
(Hat tip: thecoolhunter.net)
Fernando Guerra's photography of the structure is also sympathetic, and has led me to an appreciation of contemporary Portuguese architecture - which can be both strikingly and subtlely sensual - in general.
(Hat tip: thecoolhunter.net)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Patrick McGoohan
Wow. Here I am in the middle of watching all the episodes of The Prisoner - which I haven't seen since I was a child - and io9.com posts this report:
I'm quite astonished at how stimulating - genuinely intellectually stimulating - The Prisoner still is. The early episodes are tremendously exciting - the later ones not nearly so much, unfortunately. Yes, I have skipped ahead to the last two: "Once Upon a Time" is an incredible tour-de-force, with performances by McGoohan and Leo McKern that just blew me away. "Fall Out", the last episode, was a dissappointment on the first viewing - subsequent viewings may or may not change my opinion. "The Girl Who Was Death", however, has turned out to be a delightful romp - albeit more in keeping with the campy Bond parodies of the time.
Over the years, I've appreciated McGoohan in subsequent projects. Two in particlar stand out for me: Ice Station Zebra features him in secret agent mode, arrogance at full intensity, as well as unpredictability, as in the scene when the submarine has just recovered from an apparent sabotage attempt and McGoohan's character is actually ordering the sub's captain - Rock Hudson - to do whatever it takes to get him to his destination. McGoohan appears to be under complete self-control - subdued if not exactly calm - until the moment when his voice suddenly goes through the roof and his fist almost goes through the table: "AND GET ME THERE!"
Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend has acquired something of a legend as being something of a bad movie. Having seen it in a theater when it first came out, I thought it was extremely uneven, to say the least, but it did have Patrick McGoohan and cinematography by the legendary John Alcott, and there is one scene where they came together in what was, for me, a genuine epiphany. McGoohan is an out-and-out villian in this movie, and there is a scene in some tent sometime after we have seen just how evil McGoohan's character is, and McGoohan's face is so worn, and the look on his face is so sadly dissipated - defeated, even - and Alcott lights and photographs it to bring out every sad detail, every line and crack in the skin, making it look like McGoohan is disintegrating. As far as I can tell, the only special effects involved are McGoohan's acting and Alcott's camerawork. For me, it was more than just a face on a big screen. It was a perfect illustration of the ultimate impotence of evil.
Unfortunately, the last time I tried to watch the movie on TV, the effect did not come across. It's something that can only be seen on the big screen of a movie theater.
Patrick McGoohan, one of genre television's most innovative voices, just died at age 80.I was fascinated by The Prisoner - and by McGoohan - back when it was first shown here in the States on CBS. Secret Agent Man was another early favorite of mine. As a child, I was drawn to the confidence he projected.
I'm quite astonished at how stimulating - genuinely intellectually stimulating - The Prisoner still is. The early episodes are tremendously exciting - the later ones not nearly so much, unfortunately. Yes, I have skipped ahead to the last two: "Once Upon a Time" is an incredible tour-de-force, with performances by McGoohan and Leo McKern that just blew me away. "Fall Out", the last episode, was a dissappointment on the first viewing - subsequent viewings may or may not change my opinion. "The Girl Who Was Death", however, has turned out to be a delightful romp - albeit more in keeping with the campy Bond parodies of the time.
Over the years, I've appreciated McGoohan in subsequent projects. Two in particlar stand out for me: Ice Station Zebra features him in secret agent mode, arrogance at full intensity, as well as unpredictability, as in the scene when the submarine has just recovered from an apparent sabotage attempt and McGoohan's character is actually ordering the sub's captain - Rock Hudson - to do whatever it takes to get him to his destination. McGoohan appears to be under complete self-control - subdued if not exactly calm - until the moment when his voice suddenly goes through the roof and his fist almost goes through the table: "AND GET ME THERE!"
Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend has acquired something of a legend as being something of a bad movie. Having seen it in a theater when it first came out, I thought it was extremely uneven, to say the least, but it did have Patrick McGoohan and cinematography by the legendary John Alcott, and there is one scene where they came together in what was, for me, a genuine epiphany. McGoohan is an out-and-out villian in this movie, and there is a scene in some tent sometime after we have seen just how evil McGoohan's character is, and McGoohan's face is so worn, and the look on his face is so sadly dissipated - defeated, even - and Alcott lights and photographs it to bring out every sad detail, every line and crack in the skin, making it look like McGoohan is disintegrating. As far as I can tell, the only special effects involved are McGoohan's acting and Alcott's camerawork. For me, it was more than just a face on a big screen. It was a perfect illustration of the ultimate impotence of evil.
Unfortunately, the last time I tried to watch the movie on TV, the effect did not come across. It's something that can only be seen on the big screen of a movie theater.
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