Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Death of Hitler

63 years ago today Adolf Hitler committed suicide with his mistress/wife (they were married one day prior) Eva Braun.



On April 30, 1945 Hitler, Braun, and fellow officers and their families hid in a Berlin bunker as the Soviet forces advanced into the center of the city. Around 3:30 in the afternoon, Hitler killed himself by bitting into a cyanide pill while shooting himself in the head. His and Braun's bodies were carried out of the bunker and unsuccessfully burned. Two days later the Soviets found Hitler's remains and performed an autopsy, confirming that it was indeed the body of Hitler. The bodies were then secretly burnt and buried in an unmarked grave beneath a paved section of the front courtyard. In 1970, when the territory was scheduled to be returned to the East German government, the KGB secretly dug up the remains and dumped them into the Elbe river.

And here, for good measure, is an embarrassing picture of him.

Screening Log. Jules et Jim

Jules et Jim (François Truffaut) (1962)



Third viewing.
I almost forgot how great Truffaut was.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Reading Log. Jules et Jim

Jules et Jim (Henri-Pierre Roché) (1953)



Powell's Books [link]

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Screening Log. Dog Day Afternoon

Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet) (1975)



Second viewing...even better than remembered.
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Great side-by-side comparisons of photos from the actual robbery with stills from the film [link]
Real life robber (John Wojtowicz) written response to the film [link]

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Reading Log. New Sufferings of Young W

New Sufferings of Young W (Ulrich Plenzdorf) (1979)



Powell's Books [link]

Monday, April 21, 2008

Friday, April 18, 2008

Picnic Day.

In 1909 UC Davis held its first Picnic Day. To promote the festival the students had Molly the cow walk from Davis (then Davisville) to Berkeley, which she did in 97 hours and 11 minutes. Since 1909 Picnic Day has become (what is believed to be) the largest student-run event in the nation. The 94th Picnic Day will be held this Saturday, April 19.



From the 1920 Picnic Day -


From the 1921 Picnic Day -


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Picnic Day site [link]
wikiDavis [link]

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Portrait. Guy Debord

The pondering Guy Debord.


Reading Log. Orlando: A Biography

Orlando: A Biography (Virginia Woolf) (1928)



Powell's Books [link] [link]

Friday, April 11, 2008

Ephemeron. We're Only in It For the Money

Advertisement (of some sort [?]) for the great 1968 'Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention' album.



stolen from ook [link].

Portrait. Mohsen Makhmalbaf

Mohsen Makhmalbaf directs.

Screening Log. Orlando

Orlando (Sally Potter) (1992)



An excellent film. A shame that I haven't yet read the novel...although I will fix that in the next week. I certainly plan on tracking down some of Potter's earlier works.
 
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