The Barton Fink.

This masterpiece by the Brothers Coen, from 1991, depicts the travails of a somewhat pompous, yet embattled, desperate writer, who encounters a number of interesting individuals during his stay in Los Angeles.

For more, please visit our post on Bideodromage.

This Crazy World.

The above, a true Work-in-Progress, represents….well, I believe it speaks for itself.

The Law of Hobson-Jobson.

The term “Law of Hobson-Jobson” is sometimes {?} used in linguistics to refer to the process of phonological change by which __________ is/are adapted to the __________ of, say, the new _____________, as in, say, the archetypal example of _____________ itself. For example.

______________ gives as examples of “Hobson-Jobson”: the Asturian “_______” becoming the English “Hobson-Jobson”, for example, and, for example, the Runic “ᚡᛡᛘ” becoming, say, “Hobson-Jobson”. For example.

Grothendieck’s Mysterious Functor.

For an abelian variety X with good reduction over a p-adic field K, Alexander Grothendieck reformulated a theorem of Tate’s to say that the crystalline cohomology H¹(X/W(k)) ⊗ Q_p of the special fiber (with the Frobenius endomorphism on this group and the Hodge filtration on this group tensored with K) and the p-adic étale cohomology H¹(X,Q_p) (with the action of the Galois group of K) contained the same information. Both are equivalent to the p-divisible group associated to X, up to isogeny. Grothendieck conjectured that there should be a way to go directly from p-adic étale cohomology to crystalline cohomology (and back), for all varieties with good reduction over p-adic fields.^[7] This suggested relation became known as the mysterious functor.

—from Wikipedia.

Manticore!

The fabled manticore, an unholy creature of myth and legend, is thought to be one of the mightiest of all beasts and to be capable of devouring every animal in the jungle except for elephants, and, perhaps, the epauletted fruit bat.

It must be noted: in any depiction of the manticore, there are few, if any, epauletted fruit bats being consumed, or even perturbed, while all manner of other individuals are falling prey to the fearsome hybrid.

It was claimed that the manticore lured people in by laying in tall grass or reeds. This would hide its magnificent body and show only the head of what appeared to be a bearded man {?}. In this precise way, it is shockingly similar to the antlion.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance {1962}.

The great Lee Marvin finds a perfect vehicle for his talents in the 1962 film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. The actor portrays the aforementioned eponymous villain with vigor, humor, and ruthless menace. An iconic performance. John Wayne, in perhaps his finest, most moving performance, and James Stewart also are brilliant in this epic, gritty, taut western by John Ford.

By the way…perhaps noteworthy is the fact that Mr. Stewart is referred to as both “dude” and “pilgrim” in rapid succession during one of these videos.

Hannibal: Featuring Anthony Hopkins.

One step ahead, as per usual, is Hannibal Lecter {Anthony Hopkins} in this scene, as he anticipates, then captures {on film} Chief Inspector Pazzi, catching him utterly unawares. By this time, Pazzi is becoming more and more uneasy, understandably so given the formidableness, and pure psychopathy, of his would-be “prize”.

Usually, one might feel cause for concern when the gloves are **off**. When Hannibal Lecter is about, however, a sense of dread makes itself apparent when the gloves are **on**.

Hannibal requires perhaps 0.03 seconds to transition from the Chief Inspector’s {phony} phone-call explanation, to the business at hand. An unfailingly courteous, though morbid, question and answer session then ensues. One last “Okey dokey” is thrown in, with characteristic sang-froid, by the serial killer for bonus points.

Suede. Featuring Brett Anderson.

Suede, led by the incomparable vocalist Brett Anderson, ascended meteorically to the pinnacle of British musicdom once their debut album was released in 1993. They were formed, however, in 1989; their sound changed profoundly when Justine Frischmann was jettisoned in 1991. Improved chemistry/esprit de corps was cited by then guitarist Bernard Butler. Before long, world domination had been achieved.

And so we have…..the haunting She’s Not Dead {But it doesn’t look good}; the nonpareil ballad Sleeping Pills, arguably the greatest “Sweet F.A.”-mentioning song ever; the über enthrallment-inducing Still Life; and the uncanny, irresistible aquatic mammalian allure of So Young.

Gymnasts of our Era.

Zonderland flies about like a madman; Uchimura wins his sixth all-around world championship. Both are like unto gods.

Shadow of a Doubt {1943}.

Actor Joseph Cotten, in Alfred Hitchcock‘s Shadow of a Doubt {1943}, brings ambivalence to new heights in this scene from the famed director’s favorite of his films.

Cotten, as serial murderer Charles “Uncle Charlie” Oakley, seems somewhat less than thrilled with the prospect of being interviewed/photographed.  Perhaps the fact that he has sought refuge at his older sister’s “normal” home— safe, secure, and far, far away from his litany of serial murders— yet is nonetheless in all likelihood on the precipice of being located/captured…perhaps this is playing no small role in re: his sudden enthusiasm-plummet. Nonetheless, he states for the record his Carpe Diem philosophy.

On occasion, Charlie lets slip his mask of the charming, urbane Uncle, and the less palatable, psychopathic elements of his personality take the helm. In this mesmerizing, chilling performance , specifically in this scene, Cotten metamorphoses from disarmingly lighthearted/congenial/convivial, to quite menacing/disquieting, in an almost imperceptibly seamless manner, right at the dinner table. His views on women who live in “The City” are not terribly flattering, as such.

Cotten is remarkable; a truly iconic performance. The film as a whole is a piercing early cinematic glimpse into the mind of a psychopathic murderer, and how denial and disbelief by those closest to him are not only typical…they are perhaps, together with his apparent normality, his greatest defense.