Art Posocco

You did a really nice job of fairly weighing the apparently contradictory interpretations of Josephine Baker’s stage persona. She was truly a fascinating individual, as your article highlights.

It’s very refreshing to see a list like this about werewolves! I’ve lost interest in vampires and zombies, but werewolves continue to intrigue me. I’m more familiar with them in film than literature, however (Steppenwolf is the only book on your list that I had known about previously). I’m a big fan of The Wolfman, The Howling, and An American Werewolf in London. Also, while not technically werewolves, I find Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde and Marvel’s Incredible Hulk interesting for similar reasons.

Yes, there is an undeniable longing for the original vision that will never truly fade. I often think about Kubrick’s Napoleon in this regard.

By the way, I tweeted a link to your article, and Stephen Scarlata (one of the producers on Jodorowsky’s Dune) favorited the tweet!

This is great! Jodorowsky’s Dune is one of my favorite films of the year so far. I love the comparison to Xenosaga. I was completely unfamiliar with the history of that game’s development, and sadly, I have also never played it. (I was always intrigued, though, by the use of Nietzsche’s book titles in the game’s titles.)

I disagree, though, with the admittedly hyperbolic statement that Jodorowsky’s Dune is about the death of art. Also, I did not feel like I had been to a funeral. Instead, I felt like the film was about the impossibility of death in art. Even though Jodorowsky’s film was never realized, its development still managed to have direct influences on many later works of art. For example, as the documentary indicates, Dan O’Bannon and H. R. Giger first collaborated together as Jodorowsky’s spiritual warriors. Alien, then, is almost like Jodorowsky’s bastard child. Despite the apparent death of Dune, the unmade film still provided lifeblood for so many later films, graphic novels, etc. It lives on.

Great topic, and great discussion. I agree with August that critics are not only looking at the filmmaking (even if they believe that is what they are doing). Individual tastes, prejudices, and moral qualms will (unconsciously) flavor a critic’s opinion of a film, despite the critic’s attention to the film’s technical and cinematographic features. But conversely, general audience members are not just watching films with their critical faculties turned off. They will develop their own sets of criteria by which to judge films, even if these criteria are far outside the generally accepted critical standards. Again, this might not be something the viewer is even conscious of.

In your example, you mention people who enjoy a film but have no reason to support the claim. I think that they probably do have a reason; they just need time to formulate it. Critics are no different; their “reasons” for liking or disliking films are always developed post hoc, after they have already (and automatically) made a judgment for or against a work.

This is wonderful. I would have loved this game had I known about it when it was originally released. I’m surprised it was never on my radar. I’m really looking forward to giving it a try.

This is a great overview of the history of food art. I have studied the intersection of food and art quite extensively. If you are interested, follow the link to my blog from my profile. You will find some essays that I have written on the subject. Also, I recommend the work of Carolyn Korsmeyer, especially her book “Making Sense of Taste: Food and Philosophy.”

Again, great work!

Very interesting! I think you are right. Though I do not watch The Walking Dead, I can see what you are getting at. I think it has to do with values. In both shows, individuals lose their humanity/personalities. However, in Hannibal, the individuals are given new value, whether as art objects, sustenance, or both. In The Walking Dead, on the other hand, the individuals are given no new value when they turn; they lose everything but gain nothing.

Thank you for the insightful comment!