Art

Blow Up

Antonioni’s film Blow Up is a confusing film about an arrogant photographer who believes he has witnessed a murder. The aesthetic of the film is typically 1960s. The streets of London are (improbably) quiet. Through the streets march loudly protesting students, and artists performing.

Compared to Blow Up, the Sound of Music, which runs here in the house down the road, is an aural mess.

The fact of the murder being unconsciously photographed reminds me of the childhood series Q and Q. Wikipedia confirms this association.

An alienating tennis match in mime at the end of the film also leaves the photographer and the viewer confused.

Jugaad and Michael Wolf’s bastard chairs

Jugaad is a term for wonderful low-tech innovative solutions. It originates from India where a large part of the population is still very poor but tries to make the best of the scarce resources they have.

Jugaad reminds me of the bastard chairs that Michael Wolf photographed in Hong Kong. Wonderfully simple and cheap solutions. Sort of jugaad too.

Chim in Joods Historisch Museum Amsterdam

A large exposition in Joods Historisch Museum in Amsterdam of the work of David “Chim” Seymour. On show is an extensive display of his work, covering all stages of his life. From his youth in Poland (born as Dawid Szymin) to last photos during the Suez War, where he was killed by gunfire.
Leads you intensively through the 30s, 40s and early 50s, showing Chim’s impressive work and sometimes iconic pictures.
Exhibition ends 10 March 2019.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 2016 2160p UHD ...

On the plane I give myself time to watch a movie, at home almost never. But still I don’t watch all the pulp. Next to me, the neighbor is watching Red Sparrow, a movie that doesn’t make you happy, so from a distance.

I pick out this film by Burton: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Actually because everything by Burton can be trusted. Also this movie is as pleasantly peculiar as Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Dark Shadows.

However, no Johnny Depp in the high profile role in this film. Asa Butterfield plays Jake, a boy from an ordinary family with an agonizingly unimaginative and unpatriotic father, who has found his life’s fulfillment in bird-watching. Asa is a skinny boy who fits the cartoon character role of Jake just fine.

Jake’s grandfather turns out to have led a hidden life as a hunter of evil creatures. Jake finds himself following in his grandfather’s footsteps. He must save Peculiar Children from devil-like creatures (Samuel L. Jackson) who are targeting their eyeballs. The story is difficult to retell, but is a fairy tale with the typical Burton horror character without becoming flat horror. Fantasy and reality are pleasantly blended into a Roald Dahl-like story.

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