A VISIT TO SOME MARIONETTE SHOPS

Here's (above) the sculpture over the door of the National Puppet Theatre in Prague. Nifty, huh?



And a wider view of the entrance. They're playing a puppet version of Don Giovanni! Maybe this shouldn't surprise me since several of the great composers wrote for the puppet theatre, and at one time puppet theatre was more popular than "legitimate" theatre.



I've read that Prague is overflowing with marionette shops. I wouldn't mind visiting these! Of course I want to see the marionette shows even more, but I can't help wanting to see some well-done puppets close up, so I can see how they work.



A window display (above) in one of the stores.



I've heard marionette stores (above) are all over Central Europe, especially the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria.



Here's (above) a water-powered mechanical puppet theatre in Salzburg.



Another window display (above).



Here's (above) a marionette museum.



Another view (above).



Inside (above) there's a workshop where kids get to make marionettes.



More interesting shop displays (above). Puppets look great when they're all bunched together.



No, unfortunately you can't have this puppet (above)!



A window display (above) in one of the high-end stores.






Some of the store marionettes (above) are close to what you'd see on the stage.



Nice stuff (above), especially when seen together like this!



Some finger puppets (above).



And a kazillion tiny marionettes (above)! Something for every budget!

THE END OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION!

Just for a joke I thought I'd post a bunch of fat people who look like they just finished a Thanksgiving meal. While I was doing that it occurred to me that I should include fat pets too, so I looked up "fat cats." BIG mistake! There's a million fat cat pictures on the net! It's a whole subculture!!!! People actually WANT their cats to be like this!


















It's the end of Western Civilization! .........Hmmmm, I think I'll eat something to reduce my anxiety.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

HAVE A GOOD THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!!!!!

WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF FINDING MR. RIGHT?

Boy, I really made a mistake by starting the "Love nerds" blog so quickly, with only the smallest warning. Very few people had ready-made films to post, and making one from scratch is a big undertaking if you haven't done it before. I think I'll modify the Nerd site to accept still photographs as well as videos, and put a little less emphasis on romance. It would simply be nice to see the people who post here, so if you have a photo, send me a link and I'll post it on Love Nerds.

Anyway, the subject of romance is still heavy on my mind, so here's my latest thought on the subject. It's a question: what percentage of the crowd above...of the opposite sex in the crowd above...are likely to find your type of person appealing? What percentage would want to have a serious relationship with someone like you? Well, obviously there's no telling, but my strong hunch is that the number would be smaller than you think.



You look at any group photo and at first glance it looks like at least half of the people in it might find someone like you appealing, but look again. People have a lot of unconscious prejudices. The closer you look the more plausible it is that something about you might seem vaguely alien to some of these people. I'm not talking about racial or ethnic distinctions. I mean something more peculiar than that.

[Since all my photo reference is of women, I'll assume the reader is a guy.]



For example, smooth skin people (above) usually prefer to date other smooth skin people . If you don't have smooth skin, then you're just not on their list.



Some people (above) are realists. They just wouldn't feel comfortable dating head-in-the-clouds "artsy" types. Some artsy types have the same bias against realists.



Some people are in the fast lane and only want to date other fast lane types. Ditto the slow lane.



Some really nice girls are kind of pricey and high maintenance. Can you afford them?



Big-boned women are unfailingly kind, but their hearts belong to manly truck drivers.



Some girls are never without a boyfriend. Within 24 hours of breaking up, they're back in the harness again with a new guy. You can try to date them, but you better be prepared to digest a knuckle sandwich.



Some girls (above) only want to date Mr. Right. Maybe you don't fit that description. Maybe the girl has a fantasy about living with her lover in a Thomas Kinkade house with with heart-shaped throw pillows, and glass unicorns on wicker shelves. Maybe you're a grungeball.



Girls with very small mouths tend to date men with small mouths, why I don't know.







Maybe something about the girl bothers you. This girl's stare bothers me. I had a friend once who used to date a girl who stared at him. She didn't mean anything by it, but my friend found the stare withering, as if she had seen into his soul and found it lacking. He had to stop going out with her.



It's amazing that with so many obstacles that couples still seem to find each other. They say that half of all marriages don't work, but the flip side of that is that half of them do. That means there's a lot of happy people out there.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THE GODARD CLIPS

The most iinteresting thing I learned was the importance of making the audience fall in love with the stars. For Godard it's not enough that the stars look good, they have to look so incredibly good that the audience wants to shoot their spouses and sell their kids into slavery so they can make passionate love to the star.

The second thing I learned is that seducing the audience -- making the audience fall in love with the stars -- has structural importance in a film. In Godard's best films, seduction isn't part of the film, it IS the film! The seduction is the important thing, not the plot. What I'm saying here is  that Godard identified the most important element of cinema storytelling, then streamlined his plots so that only that element was emphasized. He figured out what was most important, then delivered it in the most efficient way possible. Brilliant!

The third thing I learned from Godard was that audience seduction is intellectually engaging. Seduction doesn't mean you're dumbing the film down. In the real world falling in love heightens our senses and makes us see new meaning in every detail of life. We adopt new ideas and shed old ones. Life acquires new flavor and interest. If you can make an audience fall in love with the star like Godard did, then you're awakening their intellect, not putting it to sleep!



The fourth and last thing I learned is the importance of creating an image that represents the seduction. In "Breathless" the image was Belmondo and Seberg flirting with each other on the Champs-Elysees while she sold Herald Tribunes. It was unforgettable! The audience was seduced, and now it had a lasting image to remember the seduction by.

Actually, there's a fifth lesson but I can't think of a way to compress it into a few words. I'll write about it sometime in the future when I can devote a whole post to it.



By the way, thinking about Godard reminds me all over again of what a big difference stars and a good director make! Here's (above) a couple of British actors attempting to re-create part of the bedroom scene in "Breathless." They're OK, but compare the strangulation scene here (above) to the one below...



What a difference!

SOME TERRIFIC GODARD CLIPS

For a change of pace, how about some Godard from the early 60s? Here's (above) Anna Karina in the famous dance scene from Godard's "Band of Outsiders." They're dancing the "Madison." It's great, isn't it!?



Here's (above)another scene from the same film. What do you think of Anna Karina's close-up? I'm guessing that Godard was influenced by the close-ups in Dreyer's "Joan of Arc."



Here's (above) a nine-minute scene from "Masculine/Feminine," with Jean-Pierre Leaud and Chantal Goya. Don't let the length deter you. This scene must be watched! You need nine minutes to accomplish the real purpose of the scene, which is to make you fall in love with the characters.

I went through a period where I thought Godard was superficial for using beautiful model-types in so many of his films, but maybe I was the superficial one. I realized later that on film beauty can become a symbol representing youth, delicacy, charm, and the will to live and experience the world.



Godard was good at trailers. Here's (above) the one from "Masculine/Feminine." Is that Goya singing the song?



One more Godard clip (above): It's the powerful final scene in "Breathless." Belmondo dies at Jean Seberg's feet and we go for a close-up on her face. What is she saying here? I can't understand it.

BTW: I JUST PUT UP "LOVE NERDS," THE THEORY CORNER DATING/SOCIAL NETWOKING SITE.

http://theorycornerlovenerds.blogspot.com





I totally break the spell of Godard here, but I couldn't resist adding this...here's (above) the "Hairspray" version of The Madison.

THE BEST PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO IN THE WORLD?

WARNING: THIS MIGHT NOT BE SUITABLE FOR OFFICE OR SCHOOL.



Thanks to C.H. I can identify the source of the wonderful pictures in this and the previous post. It's "Retro Atelier," a studio in Russia. According to their manifesto (I love manifestos...maybe Theory Corner needs one) they intend to shamelessly ransack the past for lost ideas that we can use in the present. Good for them! We're desperately in need of it!

http://www.retroatelier.com/en/lobby/

Thanks also to Frank (himself a professional photographer), who wrote to Retro Atelier to find out who was responsible for all this. He was answered by the art director, Alex Galushkoff who said that the studio consists of himself, a photographer, set designer, costume designer, hair dresser and Photoshop master. The names of the models are all on the site.

It's hard to look at these pictures (above) without imagining stories to go with them. I picture the guy above as the character Emil Jannings played in "Blue Angel." The man is a respectable professor whose career unravels when he falls in love with a worldly cabaret singer.

As with all the pictures here, be sure to click to enlarge.

Wouldn't you kill to make a film with an actress like this (above)? She's the perfect villain! She looks like Edith Evans, the evil housekeeper in "Rebecca."

Nice color (above), and an interesting pose to set it off!

Uh-oh! The spirit of a beautiful girl (above) is either vanishing into, or emerging from the next world.

A gangster (above) plays cat and mouse with his frightened girlfriend. He talks about the horrible things he'd do to the fink who ratted him out. Does he suspect that she did it, or is he just toying with her?

Here's (above) a photo that looks like a fauve/futurist/cubist synthesis. A room full of naked women is probably more plausible in a painting than a photo; still, when seen large, it's really impressive!

Ah, the rich girl (above)...spoiled with Daddy's money, who hangs out with the wrong crowd and who requires the services of a private detective to extricate her. Sounds like something from "The Smoker," doesn't it?

Whatever she (above) heard on the phone has left this girl shattered. Now she has a choice to make: kill herself, or kill the boyfriend who betrayed her.

A nervous girl at a party (above) overhears a man introduce himself as a private detective. Just what she needs! If only it's not too late!

A woman emerges from a room (above) where she has just killed the rich man who threatened to send her back to the gutter. She's not worried. She knows a private detective is on the way, and she'll arrange to have him blamed for the murder.

An idealistic, "Marjorie Morningstar"-type (above). This treatment would be great for commercial portraiture, if you had the right subject and could take the time to do it right. Of course the effect is probably much harder to achieve than I realize.

Retro Atelier tried some 60s-style photography (above), but even that noble studio couldn't make the hippie era work. The 60s had style, but it was also a revolt against style. Everything then was loose and sloppy.

Another of Retro's failures (Above). I hate to dwell on negatives, because I'm such a fan of that studio, but it's a measure of their success that even what may be mistakes are worth discussing.

The attitude of the girl in the picture above is too ironic for my taste. She looks ready to smirk, and that undermines the reality of the picture. The hardest thing for a modern artist to project is simple sincerity.

Back to what Retro does well (above)...a beautiful Deco portrait.



Finally, a woman wearing a Deco-style veil (above). John makes fun of veils all the time, and I used to think veils were ungainly, but that's because I'd only seen the fishnet types. Imagine a mysterious and pretty face beckoning you into the shadows, and over her face is a delicate, vaguely menacing and supernatural pattern like the one above. Surely what she'd tell you would be the prelude to a life-changing adventure!

BTW: "LOVE NERDS," the new Theory Corner dating service, is up and running! Check it out:

http://theorycornerlovenerds.blogspot.com/