Total Eclipse of the Heart

The first question one encounters when mentioning the Twilight Saga (after the barrage of taunting and insults) is this: Team Edward or Team Jacob?! Personally, I have to say I'm both, I am totally Team Edward in the books, but very Team Jacob in the movies. Noooo, it's not because of Taylor Lautner's 8-pack (though it certainly doesn't hurt), it's because Edward is too brooding and angsty for me in the films, and Jacob has a charismatic quality, sense of humor, and playfulness about him that definitely doesn't show up in the books. While Lautner's acting skills are not, shall we say, 'Oscar-worthy', he does bring a great personality to the screen, and honestly, they shouldn't bother with shirts for him, they're totally unnecessary. (I can say this now that he is technically 'legal' :-P)

Today's nails were much requested, and obviously had to be done. I had a few people request the very same thing... a Jacob vs. Edward manicure, so Libby P. Maria Clara, and Nikki, I hope you approve! :) (but please ignore the cuticles on my right hand- bowling and sewing are tearing them up!!)

Team Edward:

Team Jacob:

I used American Apparel Hassid as a base on all nails but the ring finger on each hand, then applied Nubar Stronghold with Bundle Monster plate BM20. For the edward nails (left hand ring finger), I used topped Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud with one coat of Zoya Alluria. I shaded with a mix of Nubar Stronghold and Zoya Alluria, used a mix of American Apparel Hassid and A Beautiful Life Poison for the lips, a mixture of American Apparel Manila, Zoya Jancyn and MAC Showy for the eyes, and a mixture of MAC Showy and American Apparel Hassid for the brow. Topped off the entire face with CND Sugar Sparkle, because I live in Las Vegas, land of sun, so Edward would look like a damn disco ball. :-D For the Jacob nail, I used Zoya Flowie as a base, Zoya Dea to shade a little for the bicep, and American Apparel Hassid for the tattoo of the wolf pack members. (or at least the best I could do on such a small canvas!! :-P) Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat. :)

Go Team everyone!!! :) (except Victoria...and Riley... and well...you get the point.)

Everything Isn't Just Black & White

...but these are.:-D

Today's nails are a geometric black & white pattern. I actually painted this on part of my dorm fridge in college! :) (that fridge currently keeps my beverages chilly in the garage!) :)

I used Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud as a base, with American Apparel Hassid for the black. Topped it off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

OK- I'm off to go wait in line to see Twilight: Eclipse. Yeah, that's right I'm a nerd. lol

Go Team Undecided!!!

Australian national cinema studies

Image from Samson and Delilah (Warwick Thornton, 2009)

Film Studies For Free presents its whopping and interdisciplinary list of scholarly links to online and openly accessible studies of one of its favourite national cinemas, that of Australia. A passable effort for a Pom website, it hopes you agree.

There are some veritably beaut resources here, but FSFF would especially like to flag up one great, but time-limited, free download opportunity: Ben Goldsmith and Geoff Lealand (eds.), Directory of World Cinema: Australia and New Zealand (Bristol: Intellect Books, 2010)

• Martha Ansara and Lisa Milner, 'The Waterside Workers Federation Film Unit: the forgotten frontier of the fifties', Metro Magazine vol. 119, pp. 28-39 
• Pieter Aquilia, 'Wog Drama and ‘White Multiculturalists’: The Role of Non Anglo-Australian Film and Television Drama in Shaping a National Identity', originally published in Ruinard and Tilley eds. Fresh Cuts: Journal of Australian Studies no. 67, St Lucia, UQP, 2000
• Susan Barber, 'Runaway, Negligent and Abusive mothers: Alternate mother – daughter relationships in Australian Cinema', Communications, Civics, Industry – ANZCA2007 Conference Proceedings
• Susan Barber, 'Creative Disabilities and Vulnerable Bodies In Women In The Bush', Conference Proceedings, ANZCA, 2006
• Katherine Biber, 'The Threshold Moment: Masculinity at Home and on the Road in Australian Cinema', LIMINA, Volume 7, 2001 
• Christine Boman, '"Let’s get her": Masculinities and Sexual Violence in Contemporary Australian Drama and its Film Adaptations', Journal of Australian Studies, 76: 2003
• Kate Bowles, 'All the evidence is that Cobargo is slipping’: An ecological approach to rural cinema-going', Film Studies, Issue 10, Spring 2007
• Harvey Broadbent, '“A simple epic”: Gallipoli and the Australian media',United Service 61 (1) March 2010
• David Carter, The Empire Dies Back: Britishness in Contemporary Australian Culture', Pacific and American Studies, Vol. 9, 2009
• Felicity Collins, 'History, Myth and Allegory in Australian Cinema', Trames, 2008, 12(62/57), 3, 276–286
• Robert Connolly, 'Embracing Innovation: a new methodology for feature film production in Australia', AFTRS: Centre for Screen Business, February 2008
• Joy Damousi, '“The Filthy American Twang”: Elocution, the Advent of American “Talkies,” and Australian Cultural Identity', The American Historical Review, Vol. 112, No. 2, April 2007
• Joy Damousi and Desley Deacon, Talking and Listening in The Age of Modernity: Essays on the history of sound (ANU E Press, 2007)
• Leanne Downing, 'Sensory Jam: How the Victoria Preserving Company Pushed Australian Cinema Space into the New Millennium', M/C Journal, Vol. 9, Issue 6, December 2006
• Kirsty Duncanson, 'The Scene of the Crime: The Uneasy Figuring of Anglo-Australian Sovereignty in the Landscape of Lantana', Law Text Culture, Vol. 13, 2009
• Kirsty Duncanson, Catriona Elder, and Murray Pratt, 'Entanglement and the Modern Australian Rhythm Method: Lantana’s Lessons in Policing Sexuality and Gender', Portal Vol., 1 No. 1 (2004)
• Katie Ellis, 'Isolation and Companionship: Disability in Australian (Post) Colonial Cinema', Wagadu Volume 4 Summer 2007 • Intersecting Gender and Disability Perspectives in Rethinking Postcolonial Identities
• Katie Ellis, 'Disrupting Strength, Power and Perfect Bodies: Disability as Narrative Prosthesis in 1990s Australian National Cinema', Nebula, 7.1/7.2, June 2010
• John James Emerson, The Representation of the Colonial Past in French and Australian Cinema, from 1970 to 2000, PhD Thesis, Department of French Studies and Centre for European Studies and General Linguistics, University of Adelaide, South Australia, July 2002
• Helen Forscher, Animals in the landscape :an analysis of the role of the animal image in representations of identity in selected Australian feature films from 1971 to 2001, PhD Thesis, Bond University, 2008
• Warwick Frost, 'From Dead Heart to Red Heart: Developing the Destination Image of the Australian Outback',  Monash University, Department of Management Working Paper Series, October 2004
• Ben Goldsmith and Geoff Lealand (eds.), Directory of World Cinema: Australia and New Zealand (Bristol: Intellect Books, 2010) free download for a limited time only
• Ben Goldsmith, 'Australian National Cinema', Australian Policy Online, February 2007
  
• Lisa Gye, 'How can you be found when no-one knows that you are missing? [on Baz Luhrmann's Australia and McLean's Wolf Creek] Fibreculture Journal, Issue 15, 2009
• David Headon, 'Filming the Legends of Phar Lap and the Don — the Who, What, Where and When', Sporting Traditions, Vol. 15, no. 1, November 1998
• Alice Healy, '“Impossible Speech” and the Burden of Translation: Lilian’s Story from Page to Screen', JASAL 5, 2006
• Andrew Jakubowicz,'Australian (Dis(Contents: Film, Mass Media and Multiculturalism', n F Rizvi and S Gunew (eds) Arts for a Multicultural Australia: Issues and Strategies, (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 2004)
• Anthony Lambert, 'Arresting Metaphors: Anti-Colonial Females in Australian Cinema', Postcolonial Text, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2005
• Anthony Lambert, 'Movement within a Filmic Terra Nullius: Woman, Land and Identity in Australian cinema', Balayi: Journal of Colonialism, Law and Culture, 2:1, pp 7-17, 2000
• Anthony Lambert, '(Re)Producing Country: Mapping Multiple Australias', Space and Culture, 13.3, 2010 
• Anthony Lambert and Catherine Simpson, 'Jindabyne’s Haunted Alpine Country: Producing (an) Australian Badland', M/C Journal, Vol. 11, No. 5, 2008
• Anthony Lambert, 'Landless White Women: Tracking a Non-Aboriginal Landscape Tradition in Australian Cinema', published in Metro, 163, Dec 2009 
• Anthony Lambert, 'White Aborigines: Women, Space, Mobility', Chapter in Diasporas of Australian Cinema (Intellect, 2009)
• Anthony Lambert, 'Mediating crime, mediating culture: Nationality, femininity, corporeality and territory in the Schapelle Corby drugs case', Crime Media Culture 2008; 4; 237
• Anthony Lambert, 'Woman as Cure: Cynthia, Praise and Cinematic Politics of Difference', Metro Magazine No. 124/125
• Raffaele Lampugnani, 'Comedy and Humour, Stereotypes and the Italian Migrant in Mangiamele’s Ninety Nine Per Cent', FULGOR (Flinders University Languages Group Online Review), Volume 3, Issue 1, December 2006
• Suzanne Langford , 'In Search of an Australian Soul: Reflections on Religion and Spirituality in Rabbit-Proof Fence and Japanese Story', in Eternal Sunshine of the Academic Mind: Essays on Religion and Film, edited by Christopher Hartney (Sydney Studies in Religion 2009)
• Pat Laughren, Debating Australian Documentary Production Prolicy: Some Practitioner perspectives', Media International Australia, Vol. 2008 (129), pp. 116-128
• Pat Laughren, 'Australian Documentary: Notes on the State of the Art of the Art of the State in the 1960s', ACUADS 2009 Conference: Interventions in the Public Domain
• David Lowe, 'An Outlaw Industry: Bushrangers on the big screen: 1906-1993', self-published, March 1995
• Sean Maher, 'The internationalisation of Australian film and television through the 1990s', Australian Film Commission Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane 2004 
• Martin Mantle, 'Disability, Heroism and Australian National Identity', M/C Journal, Vol. 11, No. 3, 2008
• Adrian Martin, excerpt from 'Introduction', The Mad Max Movies (Sydney: Currency Press/Australian Screen Classics, 2003)
• Greg McCarthy, 'Australian Cinema and the Spectres of Post- Coloniality: Rabbit-Proof Fence, Australian Rules, The Tracker and Beneath Clouds', London Papers in Australian Studies No. 8, 2004
• Greg McCarthy, 'The Obstinate Memory in Australian Films', Refereed paper presented to the Australasian Political Studies Association Conference University of Tasmania, Hobart 29 September — 1 October 2003 
• Jordi McKenzie, 'Stable Distribution and Paretian Tails: Australian Box Office Revenue Evidence', AFTRS Media, April 23, 2007
• Jordi McKenzie and Nicolas De Roos, '‘Cheap Tuesdays’ and Estimating Movie Demand: An Empirical Analysis of the Australian Cinema Industry', Discipline of Economics, University of Sydney, NSW, 2006
• Trevor Melksham, 'What Manner of Men are These? Peter Weir’s Gallipoli as an Expression of an Australian Civil Religion', in Eternal Sunshine of the Academic Mind: Essays on Religion and Film, edited by Christopher Hartney (Sydney Studies in Religion 2009)
• Toby Miller, The Dawn of an Imagined Community: Australian Sport on Film', Sporting Traditions 7, no. 1. (1990): 48–59
• Lisa Milner, ‘Commos and ratbags: the origins of trade union cinema in Australia’, Journal of Australian Studies, vol. 60, 1999, pp. 133-139 
• Lisa Milner, 'Kenny and Australian cinema in the Howard era', in H Radner and P Fossen (eds), Remapping cinema, remaking history: XIVth Biennial Conference of the Film and History Association of Australia and New Zealand. Conference Proceedings. Volume Two: Selected Full Refereed Papers , Dunedin, New Zealand, 27-30 November, Department of Media, Film and Communication, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, pp. 171-181
• Tony Mitchell, '“Wogs still out of work": Australian television comedy as colonial discourse', Australasian Drama Studies, No. 20, 1992, 119-133
• Albert Moran and Errol Vieth, 'Historical Dictionary of Australian and New Zealand Cinema', Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts, No. 6, The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Oxford 2005 (long exceprt)
• Meaghan Morris, 'The Man from Hong Kong in Sydney, 1975', in Judith Ryan and Chris Wallace-Crabbe (eds), Literature and Culture in the New, New World, pp. 235 -266, Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Committee on Australian, Studies, 2004
• Caroline M. Pascoe, Screening Mothers: Representations of motherhood in Australian films from 1900 to 1988, PhD Thesis, University of Sydney, September 1998
• Mariacristina Petillo, 'Translating Australian Cinema for an Italian Audience The bloody case of Ned Kelly and Picnic at Hanging Rock', inTRAlinea, Vol. 12, 2010
• Ingo Petzke, 'Phillip Noyce', Humanities & Social Sciences papers, Bond University 2006
• Jonathan Pickering. 'Globalisation: A Threat to Australian Culture?', Multicultural Austrlia Research Library, November 2004
• Nick Prescott, '“All we see and all we seem...” – Australian Cinema and National Landscape', Understanding Cultural Landscapes Symposium, 11-15 July 2005
• Fiona Probyn, 'An Ethics of Following and the No Road Films: Trackers, Followers and Fanatics', Australian Humanities Review, Issue 37, December 2005
• Gaetano Rando, 'Migrant images in Italian Australian movies and documentaries', AltreItalie, 16, luglio-dicembre 1997
• Suneeti Rekhari, 'Film Representation and the Exclusion of Aboriginal Identity: Examples from Australian Cinema', TASA & SAANZ Joint Conference 2007, Refereed Papers, 4-7 December 2007 Auckland, New Zealand
• Alan Rosen, Garry Walter, Tom Politis and Michael Shortland, 'From shunned to shining: doctors, madness and psychiatry in Australian and New Zealand cinema', Medical Journal of Australia, 1997
• Mark David Ryan, 'Whither culture? Australian horror films and the limitations of cultural policy', Media International Australia incorporating Culture and Policy (No 133), 2009, pp. 43-55  
• Mark David Ryan, 'At Breaking Point? Challenges for Australian Film Policy through the Lens of Genre (horror) Films', ANZCA09 Communication, Creativity and Global Citizenship. Brisbane, July 2009 
• Mark David Ryan (2010) 'Towards an understanding of Australian genre cinema and entertainment : beyond the limitations of ‘Ozploitation’ discourse', Continuum : Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 24(6)
• Olga Seco Salvador, 'Strictly Ballroom (1991): Departure from Traditional Discourses or Veiled Confirmation of old National Encouragement Mechanisms?'miscelánea: a journal of english and american studies 32 (2005): pp. 103-114
• Catherine Simpson, 'Antipodean Automobility and Crash: Treachery, Trespass and Transformation of the Open Road', Australian Humanities Journal Issue 39-40, September 2006 
• Brian Tecies, 'Transformative Soundscapes: Innovating De Forest Phonofilms Talkies in Australia', Scope, Issue 1, February 2005
• Keyan Tomaselli, 'The South African and Australian Film Industries: A Comparison', Culture, Communication and Media Studies, 2007
• David Thomas, Extraordinary Undercurrents: Australian Cinema, Genre and the Everyday. PhD Thesis, School of Media, Communication and Culture Murdoch University 2006
• Deborah Tudor, 'Cultural Intersections in Early Australian Sound Films: Rangle River (1936)', Democratic Communique, 19, Spring 2004
• Deb Verhoeven, 'Wool blend: Sheep and the Australian social fabric', from Sheep and the Australian Cinema (MUP Academic Monograph Series, Melbourne University Publishing, Carlton, 2006)
• Susan Ward, 'National Cinema or Creative Industries? Film Policy in Transition', Media International Australia incorporating Culture and Policy, No. 112 — August 2004
• B. Yecies, 'Failures and successes: local and national Australian sound innovations, 1924-1929. Screening The Past: An International, Refereed, Electronic Journal of Visual Media and History, (16), 2004

Remember to Eat Your 5 a Day!

Taco Bell has lettuce, so that counts...right?

I've had the idea for this manicure for a while now, I figured that since the recommended daily consumption of fruits & vegetables is 5, and I have 5 fingers on each hand, that it worked out perfectly. :) I, of course, don't eat vegetables... unless you're my mom that is reading this, which in that case, I eat 10 servings a day– probably more! :) (but only if Taco Bell lettuce counts...or ketchup on burgers?)

I used:

Thumb: Asparagus (this I actually DO eat, and really like)

ULTA Banana Rum in the Sun as a base, with a mixture of CND Green Scene and ULTA Limelight for the stalks, and added American Apparel Hassid to that for the spear end, with small touches of straight CND Green Scene on top.

Index: Carrots (again, I enjoy these, and used to gnaw on them all the time with my dad as a kid)

CND Electric Orange as a base, then mixed with China Glaze Salsa for the shading, and Zoya Jancyn for the highlight. For the blue background, I used Zoya Robyn and for the carrot top, I used CND Green Scene.

Middle: Green Apple (love these if they're Granny Smith)

American Apparel Butter as a base, with a mix of that and ULTA Limelight for the inner core line, ULTA Limelight for the peel, MAC Showy for the seeds and stem, and CND Green Scene for the background.

Ring: Red Pepper (key ingredient in Sunshine stirfry- which Jacquie will remember)

Zoya Robyn for the background, China Glaze Salsa for the base color of the pepper, then mixed with Zoya Jancyn to highlight and American Apparel Hassid to shade. For the stem, I used CND Green Scene.

Pinky: Corn (I miss fresh from the farm corn on the cob!!)

American Apparel Manila as a base, then with Zoya Jancyn for shading next to the husk and between kernels, then a mix of American Apparel Manila and American Apparel Butter for the highlight on the kernels. For the husk, I used CND Green Scene, then mixed with American Apparel Butter for the husk highlights.

Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Now that you've got your dose of fruits and vegetables for the day, you're free to eat something a bit tastier- like chocolate, or maybe steak.

Twigs & Berries

:-D Sounds like a much more 'interesting' post than it probably will be. ;) Camping kicked my ass, I napped pretty much as soon as I stepped out of the shower after getting home today. I fulfilled my S'mores and toasted marshmallow craving (for now), with a 5 s'mores, and 7 toasted marshmallows (2 of which I ate with breakfast). :-D I also cooked 'tin foil' dinners, which I made by slicing potatoes, onions, chopping garlic, sliced smoked sausage, butter, salt, and pepper and putting it in a tin foil 'pouch' and placing them on the grate over the fire. I also cooked baked potatoes by wrapping them in tin foil an dputting them IN the fire for an hour- they were amazing.

Today's nails are a simple design that kind of remind me of nature- twigs & berries to be specific. :-D

I used MAC In the Buff as a base with Bundle Monster plate BM06 used to apply A Beautiful Life Poison. Topped it off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

The potatoes right after they were out of the coals/fire:

My potato! (butter, salt & pepper)

And my latest iPhone case creation, thinking of selling them on etsy, thoughts? (it even has a pocket for credit cards!)

I'll Have S'more!!

Ooey, Gooey, Melty, Chocolatey, Sugary, crunchy goodness. Yes, this is one of the only reasons I go camping...for the s'mores. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love hanging around the campfire, and fishing when there is water, and all that jazz, but I really truly love s'mores, hot dogs, and baked potatoes cooked in the fire. Since I'm going camping tonight up on Mt. Charleston, I decided to do S'mores nails!!! :) A few years ago, I was introduced to the double chocolate method, go ahead, try it, it'll rock your world. I'm seriously so excited for roasted marshmallows, and how I painted it is how they're perfectly cooked... though if my mom were camping with us, they'd be flaming balls of charred sugar, never could understand why she likes them burnt. *gag*

I used:

Thumb & pinky: Graham crackers

Some mix of MAC Showy, Zoya Dea, Nubar Milk Chocolate Creme, American Apparel Cotton and American Apparel Palm Springs.

Index & Ring: Chocolate *drool*

Nubar Milk Chocolate Creme as a base, with MAC Showy to shade, and Zoya Dea to highlight.

Middle: toasted Marshmallowy goodness

American Apparel Cotton as a base, with MAC Abalone Shell, American Apparel Palm Springs, Zoya Dea, MAC Showy, and OPI for Sephora What's a Tire Jack? Matte sponged on lightly in layers. I love how the tip edge looks like it was singed. :-P

Topped the chocolate nails off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat, no top coat for the marshmallow nail, and for the graham cracker nails, I sponged on Essie Matte About You so it wouldn't give a smooth matte finish, but a rough one. :-D

Ok, I'm off to head up the mountain!! :) Have a fun day/night!! :)

Michael Haneke Studies: videos, podcasts and article links

Dedicated to the memory of Peter Brunette, 1943-2010

True likeness by Catherine Grant

The above is a new video essay produced for Film Studies For Free's baby sister site Filmanalytical. It explores some of the obvious, as well as the more obscure, similarities between two films: Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, 1960) and Code inconnu: Récit incomplet de divers voyages/Code Unknown: Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys (Michael Haneke, 2000). Like all mash-ups it's best enjoyed and/or most effective if you know the original films. Read an explanation of the context of this work here.

 

Thomas Elsaesser on Michael Haneke (excerpt) And see Elsaesser's book chapter on this work here (pdf -details below)

 

Geoff Andrew on Michael Haneke

Geoff Andrew on The White Ribbon

 Film Studies For Free created a big Michael Haneke links list in October last year to coincide with the flood of online material on this filmmaker as a consequence of the cinematic release of Das Weisse Band/The White Ribbon. The flood shows no sign of abating, however, and so here's a new and updated list of material. For ease of use, FSFF has listed at the top items that weren't included in the October entry.

At the top of this post is a new video essay made by FSFF's author for a new companion website to  this blog: Filmanalytical. The site will focus on video and written essays on films and will necessarily be more "occasional" than FSFF, but hopefully useful nonetheless for those of you who like your Film Studies to be online and freely accessible.

This entry, like two other FSFF posts here and here, is dedicated to the memory of Peter Brunette, the film critic and scholar who died last week. Peter's last book was on Michael Haneke, and below is a link to a wonderful podcast interview that he gave on the subject of this filmmaker.

Finally, there are some other great new English-language books on Michael Haneke -- to join Catherine Wheatley's 2008 Michael Haneke's Cinema: The Ethics of the Image -- some of which FSFF's author has been poring over. Here are links to limited previews or listings of each of them on Google Books:

• Brian Price and John David Rhodes (eds), On Michael Haneke (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2010)
• Roy Grundmann (ed), A Companion to Michael Haneke (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)
• Peter Brunette, Michael Haneke (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2010)
• Ben McCann and David Sorfa, The Cinema of Michael Haneke: Europe Utopia (London: Wallflower Press, 2010)

New freely accessible items:

• Peter Bradshaw, 'What Haneke owes to Kafka', The Guardian, November 5, 2009
• Peter Brunette interviewed by Colin Marshall about his University of Illinois Press study of Michael Haneke's films (Podcast), April 15, 2010
• Caché - Videoed roundtable discussion of Michael Haneke's film with Roy Grundman, Edward Nersessian, Brigitte Peucker, Brian Price, and Garrett Stewart (1hr25), Philoctetes Center 
• Matthew Croombs, 'Algeria Deferred: The Logic of Trauma in Muriel and Caché', Scope, no. 16, February 2010
• Thomas Elsaesser, "Performative Self-Contradictions Michael Haneke's Mind Games," in Roy Grundmann (ed), A Companion to Michael Haneke (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)
• Catherine Grant, "True Likeness: Peeping Tom and Code Unknown", Filmanalytical, June 26, 2010 
• Jan Jagodzinski, 'Michael Haneke: The Spectatorship of Self-refleXivity; Between Lacan and Deleuze', 'The Scope of Interdisciplinarity' Conference, Center for Integrated Studies, November 2008
• Dan North, 'Funny Games, Funny Games', Spectacular Attractions, October 14, 2009 
• David Sorfa, "Uneasy domesticity in the Films of Michael Haneke", Studies in European Cinema, 3.2 (2006)
• Robin Wood, 'Michael Haneke: beyond compromise', CineAction, Summer 2007

Full list of freely accessible items:

• Paul Arthur, 'Endgame [on Caché]', Film Comment, November/December 2005
• Karin Badt, 'Family Is Hell and So Is the World: Talking to Michael Haneke at Cannes 2005', Bright Lights Films Journal, Issue 50, November 2005
• Pamela Biénzobas, 'Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon": The Sins of the Father Are to be Laid Upon the Children', Undercurrent, 2009
• Adam Bingham, 'Long night's journey into day Michael Haneke's Le Temps du loup (The Time of the Wolf, 2003)', Kinoeye, Vol 4, Issue 1, Mar 2004
• Adam Bingham, 'Life, or something like it: Michael Haneke's Der siebente Kontinent (The Seventh Continent, 1989)', Kinoeye, Vol. 4, Issue 1, Mar 2004
• Adam Bingham, 'Modern Times: Notes Toward a Reading of Michael Haneke's 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance', Senses of Cinema, January 2005
• Bill Blick, 'The Time of the Wolf', Senses of Cinema, January 2005
• Joe Bowman, 'The Year 2001: The Piano Teacher (Michael Haneke)', Film For the Soul, April 28, 2009
• Peter Bradshaw, 'What Haneke owes to Kafka', The Guardian, November 5, 2009
  
• Peter Brunette interviewed by Colin Marshall about his University of Illinois Press study of Michael Haneke's films (Podcast), April 15, 2010 
• Caché - Videoed roundtable discussion of Michael Haneke's film with Roy Grundman, Edward Nersessian, Brigitte Peucker, Brian Price, and Garrett Stewart (1hr25), Philoctetes Center
• Zach Campbell, 'Blog-a-thon: Code Inconnu', Elusive Lucidity, February 12, 2006
• Mary Caputi, 'Ambivalence and Displacement in Michael Haneke’s Caché', Centre for Cultural Studies Research Conference Journal 2007
• John Champagne, 'Undoing Oedipus: Feminism and Michael Haneke's The Piano Teacher', Bright Lights Film Journal, Issue 36, April 2002
• Matthew Clayfield, 'Every Sequence an Unfinished Senten', Esoteric Rabbit Blog, February 13, 2006 [link currently not working]
• Dennis Cozzalio, 'Code Unknown and Crash: Collisions, Connections and Catharsis', Sergio Leone & The Infield Fly Rule, February 13, 2006
• Matthew Croombs, 'Algeria Deferred: The Logic of Trauma in Muriel and Caché', Scope, no. 16, February 2010
• Rob Davis and Robert Parks, 'Podcast Discussion: The Films of Michael Haneke', Errata, April 27, 2008
• Dipanjan, 'Haneke's Optimism' Dipanjan's Random Muses, February 13, 2006
• Maria van Dijk, 'Alienation & Perversion: Michael Haneke's The Piano Teacher', Bright Lights Film Journal, Issue 36, April 2002
• Peter Eisenman, 'Interview with Haneke for Icon', Iconeye
• Thomas Elsaesser, "Performative Self-Contradictions Michael Haneke's Mind Games," in Roy Grundmann (ed), A Companion to Michael Haneke (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)
• Christine Evans, 'Cache', UBCinephile, Volume 2, March 2006
• Richard Falcon, 'Code Unknown', Sight and Sound, May 2001
• Hamish Ford, 'Hidden: A film for our times', RealTimeArts, 75, Oct-Nov 2006
• Mattias Frey, 'Supermodernity, Capital, and Narcissus: The French Connection to Michael Haneke’s Benny’s Video', Cinetext: Film & Philosophy, September 27, 2002
• Mattias Frey, 'Michael Haneke', Senses of Cinema, August 2003
• Andrew Grant/Film Brain, 'A Crumpled Piece of Paper: Scattered and Inconsequential Musings on Code Unknown', Like Anna Karina's Sweater, February 13, 2006
• Catherine Grant, "True Likeness: Peeping Tom and Code Unknown", Filmanalytical, June 26, 2010 
• Asbjørn Grønstad, 'Downcast Eyes: Michael Haneke and the Cinema of Intrusion', Nordicom Review 29 (2008) 1, pp. 133-144
• Roy Grundmann, 'Auteur de force: Michael Haneke's "cinema of glaciation"', Cineaste, March 22, 2007
• Michael Guillén, 'Code Unknown', The Evening Class, February 13, 2006
• Steffen Hantke, 'Postwar German Cinema and the Horror Film: Thoughts on Historical Continuity and Genre Consolidation', in Caligari's Heirs: The German Cinema of Fear after 1945, Edited by Steffen Hantke (Scarecrow Press, 2006)
• Eric Henderson, 'Code Unknown', When Canses Were Classeled, February 13, 2006
• Lee Hill, 'How Do You Think It Feels', Vertigo Magazine, No 16, March 2008
• Aaron Hillis, 'Code Well Known, Or, How to Build a Better Blog-a-thon', Cinephiliac, Fevruary 13, 2006
• Andrew James Horton, 'Locked Out! Michael Haneke's Code inconnu: Récit incomplet de divers voyages', Central Europe review, Vol 3, No 19, May 2001
• Andrew J Horton, 'De-icing the Emotions: Michael Haneke's retrospective in London', Central Europe Review, Vol 0, No 5, October 1998
• David Hudson, 'The Auteurs Daily: The White Ribbon, How German is it?', The Auteurs Notebook, August 28, 2009
• Darren Hughes,'Code Unknown', Long Pauses, February 13, 2006
• Daniel Hui, 'Fun and Games: On Michael Haneke's 2007 Remake of His 1997 Funny Games', Bright Lights Film Journal, Issue 61, August 2008
• Nina Hutchison, ' Between Action and Repression: The Piano Teacher', Senses of Cinema, April 2003
• Jan Jagodzinski, 'Michael Haneke: The Spectatorship of Self-refleXivity; Between Lacan and Deleuze', 'The Scope of Interdisciplinarity' Conference, Center for Integrated Studies, November 2008
• Ian Johnston, 'Lost World: Michael Haneke's Time of the Wolf Reconsidered', Brights Lights Film Journal, Issue 56, May 2007
• Chris Justice, 'Funny Games', Senses of Cinema, January 2005
• Dominik Kamalzadeh for Die Tageszeitung, 'Interview "Cowardly and comfortable" Michael Haneke's new film "Cache" on France's colonial history investigates the point where private and collective guilt spill over into each other', Signand sight.com, January 2006
• Daniel Kasman, 'Cannes 09: Review of The White Ribbon', The Auteurs Notebook, May 22, 2009
• Tarja Laine, '"What are you looking at and why?" Michael Haneke's Funny Games (1997) with his audience', Kinoeye, Vol. 4, Issue 1, Mar 2004
• Maximilian Le Cain,' Do the Right Thing: the Films of Michael Haneke', Senses of Cinema, May 2003
• David Lowery, 'Following [On Code Unknown], Drifting, February 13, 2006
• Kartik Nair, 'Caché and the secret image', Wide Screen, Vol 1, No 1 (2009)
• Darragh O'Donoghue, 'Code inconnu: Récit incomplete de divers voyages', Senses of Cinema, January 2005
• Ara Osterwell, 'Caché ', Film Quarterly, Vol. 59, Issue 4, 2006
• Dan North, 'Funny Games, Funny Games', Spectacular Attractions, October 14, 2009
• Brigitte Peucker, 'Effects of the real Michael Haneke's Benny's Video (1993)', Kinoeye, Vol. 4 Issue 1, Mar 2004
• Peter Sainsbury, 'Visions, illusions, and delusions', RealTimeArts, 53, Feb-Mar 2003
• A. O. Scott, 'A Nice Middle Class Couple with their own Stalker [on Caché]', New York Times, December 23, 2005
• Girish Shambu, 'Cache', girish, January 23, 2006
• Girish Shambu, 'Code Unknown: An Auto-Dialogue', girish, February 13, 2006. and for the remaining contributions to the Code Unknown Blogathon:

Aaron Hillis at Cinephiliac;Darren Hughes at Long Pauses; David Lowery at Drifting; Dennis Cozzalio at Sergio Leone & The Infield Fly Rule; .Dipanjan at Random Muses; Eric Henderson at When Canses Were Classeled; Filmbrain [Andrew Grant] at Like Anna Karina's Sweater; Matthew Clayfield at Esoteric Rabbit; Michael Guillen at The Evening Class; and Zach Campbell at Elusive Lucidity.

• Christopher Sharrett, 'The Seventh Continent', Senses of Cinema, February 2005
• Christopher Sharrett, 'The World that is Known: Michael Haneke Interviewed', Kino Eye vol. 4, no. 1, 8 March 2004
• Christopher Sharrett, 'The horror of the middle class: Michael Haneke's La Pianiste (The Piano Teacher, 2001)', Kinoeye, Vol. 4, Issue 1, Mar 2004
• David Sorfa, "Uneasy domesticity in the Films of Michael Haneke", Studies in European Cinema, 3.2 (2006)
• Joerg Sternagel, 'From Inside Us: Experiencing the Film Actor in Michael Haneke’s Cache', Film International, Issue 39
• Harry Tuttle, 'Haneke on Hidden', Screenville, October 17, 2005
• Harry Tuttle, 'Three Times 4 Eggs - Funny Games (2)', Screenville, June 18, 2008
• Justin Vicari, 'Films of Michael Haneke: Utopia of fear', Jump Cut, No. 48, Winter 2006
• Catherine Wheatley, 'Secrets, Lies, & Videotape', Sight and Sound, February 2006
• Catherine Wheatley, Michael Haneke: The Ethic of the Image (London: Bergahn Books, 2008) limited preview on Google Books
• Robin Wood, 'Michael Haneke: beyond compromise', CineAction, Summer 2007

It's Close to Midnight

and something evil's lurking in the dark...

Thriller is, and always will be, my favorite music video of all time. FAVORITE. When I was younger, we had the thing on BETA MAX tape. Yeah, that's how we roll. The damn video was pure genius, as was all of Michael Jackson's stuff. His life was marred with controversy, plastic surgery, criminal allegations, you name it, but dude defined the word 'entertainer'. One year ago today, the media was sent into a frenzy, and the world mourned one of its greatest known entertainers. You may not agree with him, like his music, or give a rat's ass about him, his life, or his death, but you have to admit, he changed the face of entertainment as we know it. Reader Geraldine E. requested today that I do Michael Jackson nails, and I thought and thought about what I could do- there are so many sides to him, but i decided to choose my all-time favorite to focus on– Thriller. I did the werewolf eyes from the end scene of the video, the zombie face/eye, the werewolf fur, the red leather jacket, and on the thumb, his iconic white sparkly glove (even though it wasn't part of Thriller, it is one of his signatures, so I had to include it). I love the zombie nail, it's my favorite! I wish I could keep it on for more than a day!! :/

RIP MJ.

I used:

Thumb: Iconic White Sparkly glove

Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud as a base, with Zoya Luna over it, and American Apparel Hassid for the black.

Index: Michael's face/eye from the last scene of the video, where his face is normal except his eyes

Zoya Dea mixed with MAC In the Buff as a base, Zoya Dea to shade, then mixed with American Apparel Hassid to do the darkest shading and the eyebrow, and then Zoya Dea mixed with MAC Abalone Shell to highlight. American Apparel Cotton for the base for the eye color, then CND Bicycle Yellow over it for the eye, topped with American Apparel Hassid for the pupil.

Middle: Michael's Zombie face/eye

Sally Hansen Trendy Creme as the base, then mixed with American Apparel Hassid and American Apparel Mount Royal to shade, and mixed with American Apparel Cotton to highlight. For the eye, I used American Apparel Cotton with black for the outline and the pupil/iris, and a few dots of American Apparel Cotton for the reflection.

Ring: Werewolf fur

Zoya Dea as a base, then mixed with American Apparel Hassid for some of the fur, and MAC In the Buff for some, and mixed with American Apparel Cotton for a few highlights.

Pinky: Michael's Jacket in the beginning when he is on his date

China Glaze Salsa as a base, with American Apparel Hassid for the black diagonals, then mixed with China Glaze Salsa for the jacket seams and details, then American Apparel Cotton to highlight in places because the leather was kind of shiny.

Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Darkness falls across the land
The midnight hour is close at hand
Creatures crawl in search of blood
To terrorize y'alls neighborhood
And whosoever shall be found
Without the soul for getting down
Must stand and face the hounds of hell
and rot inside a corpse's shell

The foulest stench is in the air
The funk of forty thousand years
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom
And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the Thriller.....

....aaahhahahhaahahahahHAaHAHAHahahahahahahahahHAHAHAHhAHAHAHAHAHHahhhAHAHHhhaaa.

Which reminds me, I also love Vincent Price, that part makes the whole damn song.

Check out the iPhone case I sewed this morning for my new iPhone 4, its fleece-lined, canvas duck exterior with a elastic hairtie/button closure. Hell yes for good old-fashioned ingenuity! (and cheapness) :-P

There's an App For That

For those of you not in the 'know', today was the release of the amazingtastical iPhone 4G from Apple. Thousands of crazy people around the country (like myself) waited in line for hours and hours and hours with the hopes of being one of the lucky ones to place our hands around the holy grail of smart phones. Personally, I showed up with my roommate, Maris, at approximately 1 a.m., to sit on a filthy Las Vegas sidewalk for 5 hours, only to be moved indoors into the Caesar's Forum Shops where we again, sat on the ground for 6 more hours by the time all was said and done. I have to say it though, it was so worth it. Scratch from our memories the argument coming near blows over line jumpers, people selling their spot in line for $400 and $500 dollars. I even facilitated such an exchange, picking a man who looked like he had money to burn out of the stragglers, yet no finders fee. *sigh* :-D Devin, the charming iPhone angel who bestowed upon us our shiny new iPhones, was a welcome change from the cranky restlessness of the crowd, with an easy smile and the ability to endure a certain amount of slap happiness on my part. Then there were the people we stood shoulder to shoulder with for hours on end, sharing sarcasm, irritation, and laughs. Finally, the line jumpers, if you're somehow reading this, learn to share, act civilized, and not be assholes, we managed to maintain our shit, I'm sure you can too. (though this redheaded blogger was shaking with fury, and the job of keeping her little mouth shut)

Today's nails are dedicated to us, the crazy ones. (and Lenny, of course)

I used:

Left hand:

Thumb: YouTube

Sally Hansen Trendy Creme as a base, with a mixture of American Apparel Manila, American Apparel Cotton, and Zoya Dea for the yellow part of the television, Zoya Dea for the outline, then Zoya Dea mixed with the outer outline. For the knobs, I used a mix of American Apparel Hassid and American Apparel Cotton, with American Apparel Hassid to shade, I also used American Apparel Hassid for the vertical speaker slots. For the shadow around the edge of the screen, I used a mix of American Apparel Hassid and Sally Hansen Trendy Creme, and for the highlght on the screen, I used Sally Hansen Trendy Creme mixed with American Apparel Cotton.

Index: Weather

Zoya Robyn as a base, with OPI What's With the Cattitude? brushed around the edges towards the middle. For the sun, I used American Apparel Manila with Zoya Jancyn to shade, as well as for the minute sunbursts. For the temperature, I used Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud.

Middle: Maps

Zoya Harley as a base, with Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud for the white road lines, as well as for a base on the interstate sign. For the orange highway line, I used Zoya Jancyn, and for the yellow, I used American Apparel Manila. For the interstate sign, I used China Glaze Salsa for the red and Pure Ice French Kiss for the blue.

Ring: Calendar

Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud as a base, with China Glaze Salsa for the red, American Apparel Hassid for the black, and Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud for the THU.

Pinky: iTunes Store

Color Club Pucci-licious as a base, with American Apparel Esprit lightly brushed outward on the bottom half of the nail, and China Glaze Grape Pop brushed out from the center on the top half for the burst. For the music note symbol, I used Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud.

Right Hand:

Thumb: Calculator

American Apparel Hassid as a base, with a mix of American Apparel Hassid and China Glaze Lemon Fizz for the grey buttons, and Zoya Jancyn for the orange button, with Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud for the +, -, X, and = symbols.

Index: Notes

China Glaze Lemon Fizz as a base, with a mixture of Zoya Dea and Sally Hansen Trendy Creme for the brown binding at the top, American Apparel Mount Royal for the blue lines, and China Glaze Salsa for the red lines.

Middle: Phone

Claire's MOOD Polish in happy/earthly as a base, with CND Green Scene sponged lightly on the top half. For the phone symbol, I used Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud.

Ring: Facebook

A mixture of American Apparel Mount Royal and American Apparel Esprit as a base, with American Apparel Esprit for the bottom line, and Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud for the f.

Pinky: iPod

CND Electric Orange as a base, with Zoya Jancyn sponged lightly over the tip edge. For the iPod symbol, I used Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud.

Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat for the fresh from the Apple store shine. :-D

P.S. Forum Apple staff: Did you know that Blaine made cookies?! :-P haha!

OK, seriously, I'm on hour 36 with 1 hour of sleep somewhere around 1 pm this afternoon. I need shuteye in a bad way. I'll see you folks tomorrow. :-D

Making the meaning affective: Peter Brunette's film studies

Still image from the final shot of L'Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960)

 Luxuriating in the view over the Sicilian coast, the Mt. Etna volcano, and the Mediterranean sea here at the Taormina Film Festival. Oh yeah, and seeing some good films too!
Peter Brunette,  June 15, 2010

Rather than viewing the narrative content of Antonioni's films as symbolic, as representations of an absent meaning, [Peter] Brunette calls for an appreciation of the visual in and for itself, as meaning 'is made affective, through line, shape, and form' (60). Meaning emerges from the image, it is 'made affective'. Searching for authorial intent behind seemingly obvious symbols -- Brunette shows through the discrepancy between Antonioni's own suggestions and the contrasting critical reception of his films -- will inevitably say more about the critical frame employed, than the film itself. What Brunette is claiming is the loss of referent for the sign, the loss of signification. This links nicely to his deconstructive concern, which is itself indicative of the flaws in the existentialist debate. The absences that characteristically mark Antonioni's films (witness the vanishing Anna (Massari) in L'avventura) points not to a transcendental absence, but rather indicates the way out of the Platonic illusion of the coexisting Ideal and (vs) real. 'David Martin-Jones, '[Review of Brunette's book on Antonioni', Film-Philosophy, Volume 3 Number 50, December 1999

Katherine's exclamation [in Viaggio in Italia, Roberto Rossellini, 1954] is also emblematic of the death theme that permeates the film, and that culminates in the sequence so aptly described by Brunette in the following passage: "The parts begin to form themselves into a man and a woman; death has caught them making love, or at least wrapped tightly in each other's arms. Suddenly, the museum, the catacombs, and the Cumaean Sybil all come together in one startling image: the physicality and rawness of the ancient world, the ubiquity of death in life, and love, however inadequate and flawed, as the only possible solution". Asbjørn Grønstad, "The Gaze of Tiresias: Joyce, Rossellini and the Iconology of "The Dead"", Nordic Journal of English Studies, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2002, citing Peter Brunette, Roberto Rossellini, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987, 1996)

In Peter Brunette and David Wills's much under-valued Screen/Play: Derrida and Film Theory [Princeton University Press, 1989] they discuss the form that a deconstructive mode of analysis might take. They write: 'From a deconstructive stand-point, analysis would no longer seek the supposed center of meaning but instead turn its attentions to the margins, where the supports of meaning are disclosed, to reading in and out of the text, examining the other texts onto which it opens itself out or from which it closes itself off'. [...] [I]t strikes me that a serious discussion of Brunette and Wills's book would be essential to any work purporting to discuss cinema and deconstructive politics.[...]  David Sorfa, Film-Philosophy, Vol. 2, No. 23, 1998

A number of the tributes to film critic and scholar Peter Brunette, who died last week at the Taormina Film Festival in Italy,  conveyed very movingly their opinion that he left this world while doing what he loved.

Those of us who followed Peter's activities and travels, at least from the vantage point of his social media network, certainly loved his updates on them, like his final Facebook posting above. His death was a huge shock, and a great loss, notably to the two spheres -- film scholarship and theory, and film criticism -- that he managed to join up, much more successfully than most, through his own prolific practice (he gave an account of some of the issues at stake in this choice in an interview here, and Gerald Peary's obituary beautifully refers to his unusual trajectory, for an academic, here).

FSFF's author's acquaintance with Peter Brunette began with his 'director books' (listed with his other work in his CV here), and in particular with his marvellous study of the films of Roberto Rossellini, now one of the best freely accessible e-books online, thanks to Peter and his publishers. Peter was a fan and an important supporter of freely accessible culture and ideas on the Web, as this article he wrote in 2000 testifies.

Fortunately, a very good selection of other articles and chapters (and a substantial podcast) by him may be experienced at the click of a mouse, quite aside from the virtual reams of online movie criticism under his byline. That means that the following list of links to the former work - to Peter Brunette's formal film studies - is, then, the most fitting tribute that FSFF can give to a scholar who gave so much and influenced so many in his too short (or just long enough) life.

• Peter Brunette, Roberto Rossellini (Berkeley: University of California Press, c1996 1996)
• Peter Brunette, 'Introduction [excerpt]', The Films of Michelangelo Antonioni (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998)
• Peter Brunette, 'Blow-up', The Films of Michelangelo Antonioni (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998)
• Peter Brunette, 'Miniature Movies, Big Ideas: Cinephiles move on to the Web', Adobe Magazine, June-August 2000
• Peter Brunette, 'The Flowers of St. Francis: God's Jester', The Criterion Collection: Film Essays, August 22, 2005 
• Peter Brunette, 'The Children are Watching Us: A Movement is Born', The Criterion Collection, Film Essays, March 27, 2006 
• Peter Brunette, 'Nowell-Smith Meets Visconti, Redux: The Old and the New', Film-Philosophy, Vol. 9 No. 16, March 2005
• Peter Brunette, 'Rossellini and Cinematic Realism', Cinema Journa1, 25,  No 1, Fall 1985
• Podcast: Peter Brunette interviewed by Colin Marshall about his University of Illinois Press study of Michael Haneke's films (see below), April 15, 2010