mixed media: not quite the end of summer

a question arises: what does sex work stand for? Sex work is a job, but it is also a political act and sex workers’ bodies carry political messages. It goes against social norms on sexuality, that morally exclude the possibility of turning sexuality into a transactional and commercial act. It upsets gender roles, that, for example, frown upon women who express types of sexualities that don’t conform the standards and ask them to dedicate their bodies exclusively to a partner in a monogamous relationship – and if they don’t, they will be punished with the worst label a woman could think of, the label of the “whore”.

I hope people keep writing about David Lynch’s work:

film

Movie Madness window display, white text reads Thousands of titles for rent, screening room, movie prop museum, beer & wine

Throne of Blood, 1957 (Akira Kurosawa) THE BEST MACBETH

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love, 1959 (dir. Masaki Kobayashi)

The General Died at Dawn, 1936 (dir. Lewis Milestone)

The Brotherhood of the Wolf, 2001 (dir. Christoph Gans)⁵

A Matter of Life and Death, 1946 (dir. Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell)

The Ballad of Narayama, 1958 (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)⁶

seated

The Academy Theater Marquee: Keep your eye on the doughnut, not the hole -- David Lynch

Hollywood Theatre:

Woman in the Dunes, 1964 (dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara) first-timer, on 35MM

Threads, 1984 (dir. Mick Jackson) first-timer, Bleak Week programming

The Third Man, 1949 (dir. Carol Reed) rewatch, on 35MM

Mikey and Nicky, 1976 (dir. Elaine May) first-timer

Manhunter, 1986 and Heat, 1995⁷ (dir. Michael Mann) both rewatchs

Fucktoys, 2025 (dir. Annapurna Sriram) first-timer

elsewhere:

The Samurai and the Prisoner, 2026 (dir. Kiyohsi Kurosawa)⁸, Living Room Theater

music

The Man-Machine, Kraftwerk

Silver Bleeds the Black Sun . . . , AFI

Tusk, Fleetwood Mac (Storms is my favorite Fleetwood song)

either/or, Elliott Smith

miscellaneous likes

artwork for The Phantom of the Opera pinball machine

The Phantom of the Opera pinball machine! this machine had eluded me for months, we kept seeing it on the pinball locator, only to arrive at the location to find it missing. I’m so happy it finally reappeared at Next Level in June.

The Phantom of the Opera musical in Portland.

post-Odyssey online Eric Bana-ssance:

screenshot of a post by @atiyaxa on twitter; text reads, "not arguing with an australian man with big brown eyes. whatever you say beautiful."
picture is of Eric Bana as Hector in the film Troy.

dislikes

books

When a Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare and Ravished by Amanda Quick – both rereads that did not hold up! I thought When a Scot was fine the first time I read it but the experience of rereading it was akin to chewing on gauze.

Misbehaving by Tiffany Reisz

film / tv

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, 2026 (dir. Nia DaCosta), rented from Movie Madness. I watched The Bone Temple because I was curious if this film would address all the questions I had wrt the previous film’s ending, which did not amuse me. at all. short answer – The Bone Temple offers nothing of substance aside from two cool needle drops. this analysis sums up my frustrations with the film.

Off Campus (2026) I admit, there were a few scenes that charmed the hell out of me⁹ but some of the soundtrack choices were so confusing and the pacing is so bad, but that is not unique to this show. I struggle to enjoy most romance television adaptations (Heated Rivalry, Bridgerton, The Other Bennet Sister, etc.) because THERE ARE TOO MANY EPISODES. one romance novel spread over six+ episode seasons IS ASININE. I also don’t think most romance-novel-to-film adaptations work because, similar to tv, the work is too fucking literal; there is no magic, everything is vague/glossy, no risks.

The Other Bennet Sister (2026)¹⁰

I’ve read so much Tanith Lee this past year. I’m in love with her prose, which I’ve seen compared to poetry: it’s lush and beautiful, I want to sink into it. I wish more people were reading her so I could talk about her with someone! ↩︎
I learned about this book from The Reformed Rakes podcast. join their Patreon for bonus episodes. ↩︎
I fell down an internet search hole after finding a book by this author (Lovers) at a thrift shop. I haven’t read the book yet, but her obituary made me a little emo. ↩︎
the conversation here, and not just on The Odyssey, was a delight! ↩︎
Vincent Cassel. like, this fucking guy! this movie is too long, has terrible cgi, and didn’t make much sense but I enjoyed it anyway. ↩︎
reminded me, stylistically, of one of my favorite films, The Mad Fox directed by Tomu Ushida. I’ll be seeing Shōhei Imamura’s 1983 adaptation of The Ballad of Narayama at the Clinton Street theater later this month! ↩︎
easily top five theatrical experience of my life. saw g-d, cried, rejoiced, etc. ↩︎
cannot help but compare the two: The Samurai and the Prisoner, in every conceivable way, outshines The Odyssey: sound, editing, costumes, lighting, blocking, cinematography, DIALOGUE, engaging with history and theology, etc.
after Emily Wilson shared her opinions on Nolan’s film adaptation (opinions that people asked for!), namely that the script was bad, the response from wayyyy too many film critics online was that scripts are the least important element in filmmaking. let me explain: a script is not set in stone, it is a starting place, it is changeable, adaptable to the collaborative nature of filmmaking. this, imo, is what makes it so important, actually (not the most important ofc). I’ve watched so many dialogue-heavy movies since first seeing The Odyssey that it only reinforces how badly Christopher Nolan needs to hire a screenwriter. I’m not even getting into story here, this is only a footnote, after all…one last thing – I watched an interview with David Cronenberg a while back, in it he spoke about how writing is important to his craft as a filmmaker, how the dialogue is the action. so don’t piss me off! ↩︎
* as a former hockey guy, I cannot help but love all the scenes with the hockey players being dudes
* episode six, minus some odd music choices, was fun, great chemistry between the actors.
* can’t remember which episode, maybe 7 or 8, but the, “you were the friend” scene made me cry. ↩︎
I actually stopped watching after about 45 seconds into the first episode. I hated the music, I hated the voice-over. I do not think everything is charming simply because it tells me it is a historical romance (for fans of Bridgerton! I’m gonna kms) or references Jane Austen. ↩︎