katrina precedes 'kaif'

A week to go for the New Orleans(NO) vacation, until the web peppered with splashing news raised a red-flag. Yes, NO will be splashed, with enromous destruction. A projection of 50K deaths, 25feet of flooding, $100 billion worth of impending damages, and such suches. NO MORE NO! No more French Quarter?? boohoo:(

@#$@!

two-contrasting forms of art: Avant-Garde and Kitsch. The later form, was a strong term coined by German theorists (theodor) to refer to mediocre, non-innovative art and/or culture. The dissonance ironically, yet ethically promulgates a wide threat to the society and culture....I somehow believe that both are not only an integral part of mainstream art (sometimes seemingly pretentious and abhorent), but Kitsch ends up scoring in this unreal, half-pretentious world.
Interestingly enough, this pulls my memory back to my favourite quote from Jacque Barzun's (a french philosopher for neurotic developments) 'House of Intellect'. He says "Intellectuals are well paid and rising high, however Intellects are neglected and despised".....

Does existentialism exist?

Late 50's cinematic movement inspired by fatalistic (euphemism for 'nihilistic') and existential issues led to 'the new wave' in France. Outstanding artwork from figures such as Jean Luc Godard (i got to see breathless) and Francois made a global impact in movie-making.

Firstly , what does 'existential' mean in this context?
"Existentialism" as a movement affected art and philosophy. It conspicuously dissects human nature-idea, choices, experience, ummm....even why a person would behave in a given situation...gawd... its longwinded and rhetorical...Lets explain.
A pioneer in this stream, Sartre prososed a dictum that revolves around 'the essence of existence for humanity'. A freedom to choose (in the unreal world?? ...authenticity, a super-set of reality, is prime for existentialists as opposed to postmodernists). We acknowledge, choice and experience result in phenomenal anxiety, as it sparks the fear of the logical outcome, and discernibly includes the angst of being judged....freedom to choose insouciantly and yet dread the consequences?? Moreover, existentialists denounce Lord almighty, though are poignantly conscious of death and darkness! Now, now,...help me count the oxymorons...
The dictum rightfully proposes the idea to 'exist to make choices'. Neither fear nor disquietude would exist, as 'existence' itself preceedes the essence of mankind. The essence often refered to as 'truth', itself is meaningless if there is no existence. I completely acqueisce with that, however, if this concept belongs to unreal world, truth and existence need not matter....

Why are noir films existential? as i said before, they are obsessed with the quest for truth within the unreal dark dangerous world, fighting existential issues, while we sit anesthetized ready to judge....

Coming back to new wave, the revolution sparked a whole new series of different movies...fancy tools, new cinematographic expressionism, environment-friendly locations, unusual scripts, remarkable themes and depressed characters.

un sort de l'artiste

Georges Melies, born to a shoe-seller, was a film-maker in the pioneering 19th century French cinema. He created fiction-based masterpieces in the early 1900's. It is truly despicable, the innovator in early cinema, had his artwork imitated by the veterans of other fileds, such as Thomas Edison, without any prior notice or indemnification! and where were all those fancy-schmancy copyrights? loss of freedom of expression... It completely escapes me that an artist would be emasculated after he is about to taste success. He went through several hardships and was not recognized for a long time. Quite a saga for an award-winning film-maker destined to sell toys.
notes: Georges was later awarded Légion d'honneur (Legion of Honor) by French President. Guess they finally realized his contribution!