Althouse: Buildinghead.

January 12, 2010

Buildinghead.

20 comments:

traditionalguy said...: Is that a poster of Orwell's Big Brother, or just art? In Texas bigger is better.; 1/12/10, 1:40 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: At least it doesn't say "HOPE" or "OBEY."; 1/12/10, 1:46 PM
bagoh20 said...: Is that a synonym for architect?; 1/12/10, 1:50 PM
sort of runic rhyme said...: When it rains, he's The Fountainhead.; 1/12/10, 1:57 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: That must be the headquarters; 1/12/10, 2:04 PM
Wince said...: I wonder if he was previously warned:

"I'll chute you between the eyes"?; 1/12/10, 2:29 PM
Tibore said...: Actually, paintinghead. Or graffitihead.; 1/12/10, 2:32 PM
Widmerpool said...: Pardon if out place, but a wonderful appreciation of Eric Rohmer by James Bowman:

Diary of January 12, 2010

Eric Rohmer, one of the greatest geniuses ever to work in film — a medium (and a business) not quite hospitable to genius — died yesterday at the age of 89. Born Maurice Schérer in Tulle, in the Dordogne, in 1920, he studied literature at the University of Nancy and became associated with the French New Wave of directors through his editorship of the influential periodical Cahiers du Cinéma in the 1950s. Athough he is usually lumped together with the great names of the Nouvelle Vague — Godard, Truffaut, Chabrol — he stands apart from them in a number of ways. For one, he got a much later start than any of his confreres, not producing a successful film until he was in his 40s and not embarking on the work for which he will be remembered until he was near 50. This part of his career commenced with My Night at Maude’s (Ma Nuit Chez Maude) of 1969 — the movie to which Gene Hackman was referring when he said in Arthur Penn’s Night Moves (1975) that watching a Rohmer film was like watching paint dry.

This bon mot must owe its reputation to those who have taken it as their excuse never to have seen a Rohmer film, for it is just exactly wrong. There is always something going on in his movies, and it requires considerable mental agility on the viewer’s part to keep up with it all. Even some of those who profess to be his fans must not be up to the task, as I have seen them claim that plot was not so important to him when it is nearly always central. His films were always true to dictum of Hitchcock — about whom he co-wrote a book with Claude Chabrol — that plot was the soul of the cinema. I can understand that people might be tempted to forget about the intricate plot of Maude through the sheer effort of attending to the heavy philosophical talk of the main characters about Pascal, as well as the human drama of sexual attraction both pursued and resisted. But Pascal is being considered as a theorist of probability, as well as a religious thinker, and the plot consists of a series of coincidences. Likewise, we are invited to see the sexual pairings of the film as crucially dependent on the order in which things happen — as they nearly always are in Rohmer, as in life.

The rest here
James Bowman; 1/12/10, 2:37 PM
Robert Cook said...: I may be mistaken, but that looks to me like Joe Strummer of the Clash.; 1/12/10, 2:40 PM
Penny said...: Thanks for that, Widmerpool.

I followed the link victoria set out in the earlier post oh Rohmer for "Ma Nuit Chez Maude". Oh my...

Just that few minutes reminded me why I loved this man's work so much as a young, then unmarried girl. I seriously doubt I could have really understood what seemed so poignant in that clip today.; 1/12/10, 3:16 PM
Penny said...: "When it rains, he's The Fountainhead."

I too was reminded of Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead".

Althouse is taking me back to my old hippie days with both Rohmer and Rand. Wonder what the third "R" might be?; 1/12/10, 3:21 PM
Ron said...: It's Nixon...in the black and white colors you were wearing the other day...see how they prep for your birthday in Texas!; 1/12/10, 3:28 PM
Ron said...: Penny, I must be the third "R"!; 1/12/10, 3:29 PM
traditionalguy said...: That face maybe a between diets shot of Kirstie Allie, who was also born on January 11,1951 along with Rush and the Professor.; 1/12/10, 3:48 PM
David said...: The buildinghead could use eraserhead.; 1/12/10, 3:59 PM
Anonymous said...: If the building is constructed of non-foliated metamorphic rock resulting from the metamorphism of limestone, it could be Marbleheade (Massachusettes).; 1/12/10, 5:00 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: "Buildinghead"

What this building is hoping to get for its birthday.; 1/12/10, 5:41 PM
Penny said...: "Penny, I must be the third "R"!"

If only I could only BE so lucky, Ron. Hi, sweetie!; 1/12/10, 6:03 PM
Penny said...: Whoa, Ignorance is Bliss...

EXCELLENT example of how architecture can capture one's imagination.; 1/12/10, 6:05 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: I'm really loving some of these photos. This one's great. What's it from?; 1/12/10, 9:38 PM