Letterboxd — Your life in film

An interesting curio with mostly British musicians of the day rambling on half-coherently and Frank Zappa being his usual insufferable self, with the full showing of the summary execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém, which I could have done without, and at the end a strangely nonchalant blazing young man, or even boy, to create some kind of forced dichotomy.

I can imagine the early days of the world wide web being very similar to this offbeat, hallucinatory yet strangely innocent little film.

A group of rookie employees at a television studio slowly realise that the so-called idiot of the group, the goofy and smiling Hanako, is actually a refreshing if chaotic addition to the company, whose shenanigans help to unearth stories and charm over members of the public.

This short five-episode comedy is extremely charming, and the goings-on at Hoshi Terebi (星テレビ: Star TV) are a delight: recommended.

Flavourful.

The Life Volcanic.

Impressed with myself that I identified Allen Ginsberg lurking in the background of the opening scene, where Bobby is cardboard miming to Subterranean Homesick Blues; my knowledge of gay jewish beat poets remains unparalleled.

Ridley Scott films always deliver quality extra-long documentaries on their productions, from nascent ideas, through to the fleshing out of the script(s), from pre-production through to post-production - he and Peter Jackson really have the market on these, and this one clocks in at a healthy three hours forty minutes.

The Island of Dr Automaton.

Prometheus would have been so much more satisfying if it had eschewed the corporate intrigue and focused more on the cosmic intrigue; many hints of the latter never fully explored, and felt more like a mash-up of Alien and Aliens than what it should have been, a hard sci-fi excavation of wonderment.

Seinfeld Season 1, Episode 4, ''Male Unbonding.''

Midsommar for foodies.

"Look to the cookie, Elaine."

I have completed the holy viewing trifecta: The Shop Around the Corner, You've Got Mail, and now... Hanukkah on Rye.