Then, on Friday, I went to the movies for the first time in over a year, to see "The Backrooms," and it too involved a piling up of furniture in a surrealistic environment....
It's a bit much. A bit meta. Seemingly separate surrealisms are converging. In one week, I'm seeing 2 things playing out so similarly, and I can't think of any other play/movie where the furniture was so important. I didn't set out to experience plentitudinous furniture.Watching both the the play and the movie and thinking about them afterwards, I thought a lot about whether we were supposed to think of the place as a fantastical external environment that contained the characters or whether it was a depiction of the deteriorating state of a character's mind.
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You can view The Twelve Chairs (1970), Mel Brooks' first movie based on a 1928 Soviet novel by Ilf and Petrov.
She I first heard of "Backrooms," I was a little intrigued. I thought it would be a psychologically introspective work about exploring consciousness, or something similar. I found out that it's just another horror flick. Quelle domage.
"The Curious Sofa" by Edward Gorey is an excellent furniture-related work, although the titular sofa does not appear until the climax...
…Narnia…
At least something is happening. What drives me up on the surrealist wall is when the artists impose stupid rules on the characters. And the characters have a lot of questions about that.
The Exterminating Angel (1962) So it’s a movie about these upper class people who go to a dinner party and then none of them can leave the house. The whole movie, they keep asking, “Why are we still here?” And the funny thing is, the whole movie I kept asking myself the same question. “Why am I still here?” And the more they asked it, the more I asked it. After a while I was like, “Holy (bleep), I can’t believe I’m still watching this (bleep). (Bleep) or get off the pot! You (bleep). (Bleep), man.”
"The Chairs" guy looks like a combination of Bill Murray and Beetlejuice.
Just a typical weekend in the Alt-house?
5868 Weekend (1968) No one is bad like bad Godard. I swear, I think he's bad on purpose. I think it's political.
People who love this movie rave about the scene with a huge traffic jam. What they fail to mention is that all the people in this traffic jam are honking their horns. And they keep honking, and keep honking, and keep honking.
I don't know about you, but I find the car honk to be an incredibly annoying sound. One ninth of this movie is car honks. It's a cacophony of car honks. It's ten minutes of clock time and a hell of a lot longer in real time. You think I'm kidding. Oh my God. And when you realize that this movie is made by some damn intellectual who is pontificating, yes pontificating, about how car honking traffic jams represent the snarl of capitalism and you stop and think about this--except you can't frickin' think because of all the idiotic car honking that's going on--you're even more annoyed. It's like paying money to a clown to urinate on you while he honks and honks and honks.
Godard has made a lot of outstanding movies (Breathless and Band of Outsiders and Masculin, Feminin). Fantastic. A+ all the way. And then, for a lot of his cinema, he's on the other end of the spectrum. F, F, F, and F.
Is Godard happy, and does he love the USA? A+ cinema. Is Godard unhappy, and does he hate the USA? Oh shit, look out. Vietnam made him insane, but he was kind of heading that way anyway.
what does the world look like when you know you need to declutter?
There's "Café Müller"
Sounds like two episodes of the Twilight Zone taking different takes on obsessive compulsive behavior.
A severe disparity of shoes. Shoes!
Lena Dunham made a movie called Tiny Furniture.
I haven't seen it. It's a little surreal (the man who won't leave) but mostely she's playing it straight. I think the tiny furniture is a macguffin.
Ahem. Does anybody remember that chair p**n stop-action video short from the dot.com days, maybe 2001 or 2002, wherein a beat-up armchair and a pretty... I don't know, different kind of chair, which was not beat-up, suddenly burst from the stairwell onto the roof of a building and go at it in various ways?
I was working for a furniture-related dot.com at the time, and my male boss thought it was hilarious and showed it to me. (My female boss, an evangelical Christian, was not privy to the experience.)
It was a different time.
Looks like a before/after shot of my college fraternity on a party weekend.
Your fundamental mistake is thinking that you are supposed to have a pre-programmed reaction to the artwork as the artist intended. This mindset is only appropriate if you are a huge fan of artists like Thomas Kinkade.
I had a somewhat similar online encounter thru the lens of an online poster.
Flew to the other side of the world to give a talk at a conference
Off the top of my head, spur of the moment reflection, the simple extrapolation is that "nobody is home"
ai: "Most often, this phrase is part of the common colloquial idiom: "The lights are on, but nobody's home."
"This expression uses a visual metaphor—comparing a human body to a fully lit house. Just like a house can have its lights glowing even when empty, a person can have their eyes wide open while their brain is completely disconnected."
Think empty chairs, instead of an empty house.
Backrooms was both. The movie hints that the dimension the backrooms exist in is somehow tied to a species-level linked consciousness and it is able manifest some common-denomenators into that environment, but not perfectly because it's not actually conscious. A warped mirror reflection. One good question after seeing the movie is what tipping point caused that manifestation? In other words, humans have been around for a long time, but in the universe where the backrooms exist, why didn't they have medeival backrooms? Victorian backrooms? Is it a function of population size? You have to have so many nodes of human consciousness to produce the effect? If that's the case, the population required to start having these gateways pop up happened around the late 60's/early 70's given the ever-present flourescent lighting, wallpaper, and carpeting. Or maybe population size has something to do with it, but what really got it going was the soul-crushing nature of office design pre-internet?
The dystopian? part about the robo cars, empty seat at the driver seat is that they are Literally 'safer'.
Metaphorically, I can't even begin to unpack that.
Something about the role of consciousness in the universe, just to start, an appetizer, if you will.
Our den on the west side of the house looks a lot like photo #2, but it's a smaller space.
I don't want to get political... but I go where recollections take me. Do I have a choice? really?
ai: "Clint Eastwood's idea to talk to an empty chair at the 2012 Republican National Convention was largely spontaneous. He later revealed the concept came to him while relaxing in his Tampa hotel room, where he heard Neil Diamond’s song "I Am... I Said", which contains a lyric about speaking to an empty chair."
"I am"... I said
To no one there
And no one heard at all
Not even the chair
"I am"... I cried
"I am"... said I
And I am lost and I can't
Even say why
Leavin' me lonely still
I left out the connection to Obama 👆🏽because, like the line in Airplane (1980) said 'that's not important right now.' And, like I said, I don't want to get political.
The German word for furniture is Möbel in which we can see the English cognate "mobile," But just because something in mobile doesn't mean it has auto-mobility.
English is unique among languages in its use of the word "furniture" which derives from the concept of provided or furnished. Most all other European languages use a word derive from the Latin mobile or movable.
I picture Althouse sitting back smiling, re-reading her choice of words plenitudinous times. ;-)
The chair recognizes the honorable gentleman chicklit, from California.
Thank you Lem, but actually I relocated back to Wisconsin about 5 years ago after splitting with my wife. I was born and raised near Madison, graduated from that fine University with degree in chemistry, and then left for almost 40 years. My ex-wife advised me to "go back to your people." So I did and I don't regret it.
"Your fundamental mistake is thinking that you are supposed to have a pre-programmed reaction to the artwork as the artist intended."
So, is the artist's intent not important at all? Art critics treat it as if it is, especially if their impressions don't comport with the artist's stated intent. And museums seem to think audience should at least know the artist's intent, based on their propensity for putting up explanatory plaques about it.
If what you're saying is that these people are acting too much like the crowd in The Emperor's New Clothes before the child speaks up, then I would tend to agree. And it would be really nice if artists themselves could sometimes admit that they painted that still life with all the reflective surfaces just to see if they could, or that nude just because they thought she was beautiful, but those kinds of admissions only apply to representational art, I suppose, and who does that anymore?
(She despised "fly-over country")
Chickelit - Interesting - "Mobile".
Makes me think of Campaign Furniture.
"Any furniture specifically made to break down or fold for ease of travel can be described as campaign furniture. It was designed to be packed up and carried on the march. It has been used by traveling armies since the time of Julius Caesar, but it is commonly associated with British Army officers, many of whom had purchased their commissions. With the rise and expansion of the British Empire in the 19th and 20th centuries the demand by the military, administrators and colonists increased. British officers of high social position in the Georgian and Victorian periods (1714–1901) often carried high-quality portable furniture."
I happen to think campaign furniture is timelessly smart. Furniture that breaks down or has built in handles on the side.
Why not?
“…they have a saying in Chicago: "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence…” So relax for now. But if it occurs once more, you may need to take it seriously.
Don’t be a stranger chickelit. Sorry for misspelling your moniker.
Poltergeist involved some interesting furniture arrangement
more ai: Naming Chairs
"Chairs, while primarily functional objects, sometimes receive names or monikers when they are historically significant, stylistically unique, or associated with a notable person
For example, the Savonarola chair is named after the Italian priest Girolamo Savonarola, reflecting his historical influence and the chair’s distinctive design.
This practice of naming chairs after individuals or events effectively gives the chair a moniker, linking the concept of a name to a physical object."
Conceptual Connection
"While "moniker" and "chair" are unrelated in origin—moniker being a term for a name and chair deriving from Latin cathedra meaning "seat" or "throne" —the connection arises in cultural and historical contexts. When a chair is named after a person, it is assigned a moniker, illustrating how the concept of naming extends beyond people to objects of significance.""
I don't want to get political, but I looked up the possible connection of moniker and chair, because 'moniker' reminded me of Monica and the testimony of a door used in the place of a chair. (Bill didn't use the chair behind the "resolute desk") He at least once leaned back against the door, claiming a bad back or something.
oh nooo, soory
Horse furniture. It's a thing.
Well, I think the furniture-stacking scene in Poltergeist was more impressive, but I’m a hopeless pleb.
“"The Curious Sofa" by Edward Gorey is an excellent furniture-related work, although the titular sofa does not appear until the climax...”
That reminded me of a short story I read long ago, and I had AI find it for me:
“The story you are thinking of is "The Human Chair" (Ningen Isu), a classic Japanese psychological horror short story written by Edogawa Ranpo in 1925. It is a famous piece of ero-guro (erotic grotesque) literature that explores themes of extreme isolation, obsession, and voyeurism.”
Excellent story, but it will make you think twice about sitting in a comfortable chair again.
In PDQ Bach's. The Abduction of figaro, Figaro spends the entirety of act 1 in his bed. At the end of the act, Captain Kadd abducts both Figaro and his bed.
A friend passed, and as her only remaining friend I had to move her furniture out of her apartment. My side yard is now jammed with a plenitude of her furniture, none of which I want. My version of the characters' predicament.
I'm also recalling an 80's educational luminaries panel, Boston University President John Silver among them, talking in favor and disfavor of Politically Correct Speech. That was the big menace at that time. I can't find a video of it.
Silver was troubled by the idea of calling a person a "chair". The forces that be wanted to use "chair" because that would be gender neutral. Seemed innocuous enough at the time.
This was a time when it was safe to have discussions at college campuses and televise them, without fearing that chairs would not be used as missiles.
Another educational luminary in the panel 👆🏽 was Benno C. Schmidt Jr who made a cameo in Woody Allen's Hannah and her Sisters. It helps to recall people, places and things if you have seen them in a movie.
Benno C. Schmidt Jr was in favor of PC Speech, John Silver was not in favour.
The piled up furniture from Backrooms reminded me of this
https://people.com/blackstone-employees-blocked-door-furniture-viral-photo-nyc-shooting-11780868.
I remember in Sex, Lies and Videotape the James Spader character had the opposite thing going on in his house, almost no furniture, just one chair and a TV with a VCR. I don't think he even had a bed. When the girl came over he told her, "I'm cultivating a minimalist...vibe."
There're a lot of great lines in that movie.
Mel Brooks' "The Twelve Chairs" is playing at the Cinematheque on campus if you want to follow the furniture.
So Althouse goes to a horror movie! I'm shaken.
But if you wanna go that route, "Evil Dead Burn" starts Thursday at the Flix Brewhouse in Madison.
No point in half-measures.
Turns out there's a full performance of Cafe Muller on YouTube. I'd only ever seen excerpts in the Wim Wenders movie Pina.
I suppose I’m a hopeless pleb, but I found the piled up furniture in Poltergeist more thought provoking.
“"The Curious Sofa" by Edward Gorey is an excellent furniture-related work, although the titular sofa does not appear until the climax...”
That reminded me of a short story I read long ago. AI found it for me:
“ The story you are thinking of is "The Human Chair" (Ningen Isu), a classic Japanese psychological horror short story written by Edogawa Ranpo in 1925. It is a famous piece of ero-guro (erotic grotesque) literature that explores themes of extreme isolation, obsession, and voyeurism.”
Great story, but super creepy. It will make you think twice about sitting in a comfy chair again.
Testing.
Hmm. My posts are disappearing again.
American Classic, which is about a production of Out Town, has a couple of hundred theater seats moved around as the plot progressed.
And yes, you should treat art the way you should treat AI, let it stir up your thoughts, but come to your own conclusions.
The artist’s intentions are no more important than a scientist’s intentions in, for example, a climate paper, document your methodology and give us your data, but your conclusions are only your opinion, which we are invited to consider.
A week or so I came across three references to the Bible passage where Jesus says God knows when even a sparrow falls. All 3 were on the same day. . One was in a novel I was reading. Another was in a 2010 TV series and the third was on a TV talk show. Sometimes it seems like the universe is trying to tell us something.
Would The Big Lebowski have worked as well had the micturation happened on a chair rather than the rug?
“ A week or so I came across three references to the Bible passage where Jesus says God knows when even a sparrow falls.”
But He doesn’t save them.
“All 3 were on the same day. . .Sometimes it seems like the universe is trying to tell us something.”
Some days it tries harder than others.
Let’s try this again:
I suppose I’m a hopeless pleb, but I found the piled up furniture in Poltergeist more thought provoking.
“"The Curious Sofa" by Edward Gorey is an excellent furniture-related work, although the titular sofa does not appear until the climax...”
That reminded me of a short story I read long ago. AI found it for me:
“ The story you are thinking of is "The Human Chair" (Ningen Isu), a classic Japanese psychological horror short story written by Edogawa Ranpo in 1925. It is a famous piece of ero-guro (erotic grotesque) literature that explores themes of extreme isolation, obsession, and voyeurism.”
Great story, but super creepy. It will make you think twice about sitting in a comfy chair again.
Looks like Blogger is censoring me.
Did the chair really tie the room together man?
What about A Gentleman in Moscow, the story of a Russian aristocratic who was a guest in a old and famous hotel in Moscow and who then, following the 1917 Revolution, becomes a prisoner under house arrest in that same hotel. He cannot step beyond the doors. Thus confined, he comes to know the backrooms as well as the front rooms. It's not very real as a depiction of a possible life in Soviet Moscow but it's great story because of the way it uses back and front rooms in large historic building.
Backrooms seems like a high school students experience of walking through school in the summer after graduation and looking at furniture piles in the rooms and recollecting different moments. But being still very young, the recollections don't become part of the story of a life because there hasn't been a life yet.
It's an interesting concept at 82, to visualize my life as a series of rooms with the furniture piled up in them because that time is over. And I walk through. It's more usual to flashback to rooms with all their furniture in order and all the lost people, there as they were. Comparing the two ways, I'd say the piled furniture walk gives an overwhelming sense of loss which isn't what I actually feel. I don't think of the people as totally gone and done with both because of memory and because I am a Christian.
The creator of Backrooms (Kane Parsons) said that the backrooms of the film are an MRI machine for a person's trauma.
"In Kane Parsons' Backrooms universe, the Backrooms (or "the Complex") is discovered by a fictional corporation called the Async Research Institute. Initially, Async was a manufacturer of MRI machines. They pivoted to investigating "Low-Proximity Magnetic Distortion Systems"—a technology directly evolved from MRI physics—which accidentally ripped holes in reality and created portals to the Backrooms"
Of course, traditional Hollywood sat on Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves for over 25 years before Backrooms became a motion picture. Leaves is a detailed, strange account of a family who moves into a home in Virginia and discovers it is 1/4 larger on the inside than the outside. It also contains a dark passageway into an unknown world. The documentary film discussed within the book is a work of found-footage horror, which the original Backrooms shorts are as well (also The Blair Witch Project).
Hollywood beat to the punch by a 20-year old YouTuber.
My biggest critique of Backrooms was whether or not it earned the right to switch protagonists midstream.
"Would The Big Lebowski have worked as well had the micturation happened on a chair rather than the rug?"
You cannot tie a room together with a fucking chair.
Lem: John Silber is an intellectual fraud who sided with Chomsky. Forget the conservative garbage he milked for cash: while President of Boston U., he headed up the infamous "Benjy Brigade," who supported violent rapist and torturer Benjamin LaGuer. He gave him fake degrees, got PEN to do the same, and more than anyone turned the city on LaGuer's victim, an elderly military vet who clearly identified LaGuer, as he was her neighbor. There was plenty of supporting physical evidence. Silber called her a racist, as did the media, judges, and other Boston luminaries, including Scalia's son. Silber testified for LaGuer. The entire Boston establishment tortured her and her family. LaGuer was clever: first he convinced a fellow inmate to mix his sperm in with LaGuer's first DNA test, which was clearly contaminated. After a supervised second test proved his guilt beyond denial, even Chomsky abandoned him. Only, Silber testified twice: he admitted LaGuer was guilty but had so convinced himself that he was innocent that he should be released anyway. You should look up the testimony: it's among the craziest I've ever seen. Boston detectives told me it was among the worst rapes they ever saw. LaGuer bound her hands so tightly the binding had to be surgically removed from the skin grown over it. She was left that way for days. One known journalist I interviewed whined that he "had to pull the covers over his head and go to bed for days" when the real DNA came back. Whining about being part of a lynch mob: he was crying. Only one apologized. But that's not the end: as the victim lay dying, someone, reportedly an ally of Silber's, enabled LaGuer to gain phone access to her hospital room. Pretending to be a priest, the rapist took her final confession, then identified himself and sexually abused her by phone. She died. I hope Silber rots in hell forever. How does anyone still pretend he was conservative? Who buried this story? National Review and other conservatives. I read the transcripts, the awards speeches, and the illiterate essay LaGuer wrote and Silber loved, "A Man Who Loves His Mother Loves Women." Silber was a sadist. I hope he suffered while dying, just as the innocent woman he made his victim certainly did. And now Google has disappeared my reporting and that of the one local paper that supported her, replacing the truth with exaggerated, sick stories about her purported mental illness, and misrepresenting the evidence about the DNA tests. May they burn in hell too.
Severance is a very good, creepy series with actual characters, inspired by Backrooms. It makes a nice contrast to either versions of The Office, in which so much depends on expressing yourself, or not, through your cubicle.
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