dengue fever

if this is not the best new band then i don't understand anything about music.



all of you just download new year's eve and see what i mean. very exciting...

good men good women

Hsiao-hsien Hou is definitely an auteur. i've read somewhere that he is the least distributed director although he is one of the hotshots in international festivals. his latest film "three times" has supposedly made a few people walk out of the theater, as it was even slower than cafe lumiere, but the commentator i read praised the film a lot. (another case of tsai ming-liang?)



in this film good men good women, the narrative is more complicated than the simple cafe lumiere. we follow the story of an actress playing the role of a taiwanese communist joining to anti-japon resistance in china. shot in black and white this part of the narrative gives an account of an historical and political struggle.

at the same time another portion of the narrative is devoted to the personal past of the actress, who is haunted by the death of her lover. the two narratives coalesce to form a story of two lives that illuminate each other.




the lack of dramatization (or melodramatization) and underplaying of climax contribute once again to a represenatation that neither colonizes history not the two women subjects.

it is definitely not for the people who want to get the story right away. one must be patient to let the story unfold and hit you with its emotional power. once again Hsiao-hsien Hou proves to be a master.

march playlist

strangely this playlist is very short, but add dengue fever, atmosphere and tapes'n tapes to it, you'll see that it has indeed been a very musically productive month.



I'm In Love Audio Bullys
Cuore Matto Gianni Morandi
here comes my baby Cat Stevens
I'm Not Like Everybody Else The Kinks
Amarain Amr Diab

cafe lumiere

last night we watched this great film by chinese born director Hsiao-hsien Hou. more than just an homage to the great japanese director yasujiro ozu, this film portrayed everyday life in its most ordinariness.



the camera angles, acting, mise-en-scene all contributed to this glorification of everyday life in the city and its monotony as well as the nature of relationships.



ever since watching La Cienaga (the swamp) by luciana martel and edward yang's Taipei Story i was looking for this type of film where life is portrayed in its simplicity but in its little details. i'm glad to have discovered this director.

update videos

more about austin, later.
watch my videos at videos by irmik

music forecasting

shuffle the songs in your player and answer the questions in order!

1. How does the world see me?
imitation of christ- psychedelic furs (wow, do you?)

2. Will I have a happy life?
wow- cinerama (wow wow wow)

3. What do my friends really think of me?
habib- gal costa (thanks guys)

4. Do people secretly lust after me?
black boys- hair soundtrack (hmmm? who could they be?)

5. How can I make myself happy?
mascaram seteba- mulatu astatke (meaning you can never find ot how to make yourself happy?? i don't know what this name means.)

6. What should I do with my life?
let me kiss you- morissey (maybe, but then again maybe not!)

7. Will I ever have children?
green world- gorillaz (save the world, don't reproduce?)



8. What is some good advice for me?
bence talih- sibel can (THIS IS HILARIOUS!!!! the name of the song is "i think luck" and lyrics go: i think neither luck nor love has an address, forget the one gone, welcome the newcomer)

9. How will I be remembered?
oh yeah- stereo total (cool..)

10. What is my signature dancing song?
jimmy jimmy- the undertones (could be, except i've never danced to it yet!)

11. What do I think my current theme song is?
da licensa m'- chico cesar (this is fine!)

12. What does everyone else think my current theme song is?:
maniac- cinerama (Hhahahahahhah!)

13. What song will play at my funeral?
how we do- mount sims (please not, this should NOT be taken as my will at all.. you know how we do it, this is how we do it.. no way!)

14. What type of men/women do you like?
darts of pleasure- franz ferdinand (right on!)

15. What is tomorrow going to be like?
wonderful life- blackbox recorder (hopefully, but the lyrics are so sarcastic!)

hurt and heal

festen

years ago esra and i were fascinated by this new film movement called dogma. it was through international istanbul film festival that we learned this movement. two films were being screened that year idiots and festen (the celebration). we were able to find tickets for trier's idiots, to which we also dragged our mothers. 2 hours of penis-watching with mothers and we were 16 or 17. how more embarrassing could it get?? but festen was sold out.



years passed by and we grew less fascinated by non make-up, non lighting, non script, trier, etc. i forgot about festen. and now today i had the chance of watching it. it is a great film. much better than anything trier could ever direct. it demonstrates the real power of dogma cinema- the ability to move you without artificiality.
hail to thomas vinterberg! (even though as a dogma director he would have been ashamed of taking credit for it, i feel, coming from a director-based appreciation of cinema, i should credit him as the genius of this wonderful film)