Archive for the Peripheral thoughts Category

21 Mar 2005

imdb Search Results

Popular Titles (Displaying 2 Results)

  1. “All My Children” (1970)
    aka “All My Children: The Summer of Seduction” - USA (promotional title)
  2. The Last Seduction (1994)

Other Results

Titles (Exact Matches) (Displaying 6 Results)

  1. Du z?©ro des ar?®nes (1996)
    aka “Seduction” - (English title)
  2. Seducci??n, La (1980)
    aka “Seduction” - USA
  3. Erotikon (1920)
    aka “Seduction”
  4. Erotikon (1929)
    aka “Seduction” - (English title)
  5. Eghraa (1958)
    aka “Seduction” - (English title)
  6. Seduzione, La (1973)
    aka “Seduction”

Titles (Partial Matches) (Displaying 85 Results)

  1. Grande s?©duction, La (2003)
  2. The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979)
  3. Mim?? metallurgico ferito nell’onore (1972)
    aka “The Seduction of Mimi”
  4. Tempted (2001)
    aka “S?©duction fatale” - France
  5. The Seduction (1982)
  6. Blind Date (1984)
    aka “Deadly Seduction”
  7. Sixty Years of Seduction (1981) (TV)
  8. Poison Ivy: The New Seduction (1997) (V)
  9. Women and Men: Stories of Seduction (1990) (TV)
  10. For My Daughter’s Honor (1996) (TV)
    aka “Indecent Seduction”
  11. School for Seduction (2004)
  12. Une femme fid?®le (1976)
    aka “Game of Seduction”
  13. The Learning Curve (2001)
    aka “Dangerous Seduction” - Australia (video title)
  14. The Babysitter’s Seduction (1996) (TV)
  15. Women & Men 2: In Love There Are No Rules (1991) (TV)
    aka “The Art of Seduction” - UK (DVD box title)
  16. The Last Seduction II (1999)
  17. Art (d?©licat) de la s?©duction, L’ (2001)
  18. Against Their Will: Women in Prison (1994) (TV)
    aka “Caged Seduction: The Shocking True Story” - UK (video title)
  19. Vampire Seduction (1998)
    aka “Vampire’s Seduction” - USA (closing credits title)
  20. Verf?ºhrung: Die grausame Frau (1985)
    aka “Seduction: The Cruel Woman” - USA
  21. Virtual Seduction (1995) (TV)
  22. Cocaine: One Man’s Seduction (1983) (TV)
  23. Vows of Deception (1996) (TV)
    aka “Deadly Seduction”
  24. Web of Seduction (1999)
  25. Matlock: The Fatal Seduction (1993) (TV)
  26. Mistress of Seduction (1998)
  27. Justine: Seduction of Innocence (1996)
    aka “Seduction of Innocence” - USA (video title)
  28. <
    a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110854/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8dHQ9b258ZmI9dXxwbj0wfHE9c2VkdWN0aW9ufGh0bWw9MXxubT1vbg__;fc=36;ft=95;fm=1">Point of Seduction: Body Chemistry III (1994) (V)
    aka “Body Chemistry 3: Point of Seduction” - USA (video box title)
  29. Seduction in a Small Town (1997) (TV)
  30. The Seduction of Maxine (2000) (TV)
  31. Sex Files: Portrait of the Soul (1999)
    aka “Sex Files: Soul Seduction”
  32. Student Seduction (2003) (TV)
  33. Anatomy of a Seduction (1979) (TV)
  34. The Kennedys: Power, Seduction and Hollywood (1998) (TV)
  35. Chasse ?† l’homme, La (1964)
    aka “The Gentle Art of Seduction” - UK
  36. Dead Students Society (1998) (V)
    aka “Poetic Seduction: The Dead Students Society” - USA (closing credits title)
  37. Dolce pelle di Angela (1987)
    aka “The Seduction of Angela”
  38. Nemuri Kyoshiro 4: Joyoken (1964)
    aka “Sleepy Eyes of Death: Sword of Seduction”
  39. Seduction: Three Tales from the ‘Inner Sanctum’ (1992) (TV)
  40. Seaside Seduction (2001)
  41. Sin Sisters (2003) (V)
    aka “Seduction Cinema’s Sisters” - USA (working title)
  42. Midnight Confessions (1995)
    aka “Voices of Seduction” - UK (video title)
  43. Julia, Du bist zauberhaft (1962)
    aka “The Seduction of Julia”
  44. Subliminal Seduction (1996) (TV)
    aka “Roger Corman Presents ‘Subliminal Seduction’”
  45. Target of Seduction (1995)
    aka “Mistress of Seduction 2″ - UK (video title)
  46. Fraile, El (1990)
    aka “Seduction of a Priest” - UK (video title)
  47. Formulas for Seduction: The Cinema of Atom Egoyan (1999)
  48. A Seduction in Travis County (1991) (TV)
  49. The Seduction of Gina (1984) (TV)
  50. Seduction of Innocence (1995)
  51. Intimo (1988)
    aka “Midnight Seduction”
  52. N?•gon att ?§lska (1969)
    aka “The Seduction of Inga” - UK
  53. The Seduction of Miss Leona (1980) (TV)
  54. “When Love Kills: The Seduction of John Hearn” (1993) (mini)
  55. Lethal Seduction (1997)
  56. Erotic Witch Project 2: Book of Seduction (2000) (V)
  57. The Seduction of Misty Mundae (2004) (V)
  58. Seduction of Patrick (1979)
  59. Seduction of the Innocent (1961)
  60. Seduction Story (1995)
  61. Op?©ration s?©duction (1975)
  62. “Op?©ration s?©duction aux Cara?Øbes” (2002)
    aka “Op?©ration s?©duction: les parents s’en m?™lent!” - France (third season title)
    aka “Op?©ration s?©duction” - France (short title)
  63. Sexual Impulse (1997)
    aka “Sirens of Seduction” - USA (video title)
  64. Short Seduction 4 (2000) (V)
  65. Pan Qiaoyun qing tiao dan Xiu (1956)
    aka “Pan Qiaoyun’s Seduction of Shi Xiu” - Hong Kong (English title)
  66. Briganti italiani, I (1961)
    aka “Seduction of the South” - UK
  67. Crimson Nights: Vampire’s Seduction 2 (2000) (V)
  68. Death Velley Seduction (1998)
  69. Tang bo hu yu qiu xiang (1956)
    aka “The Ingenious Seduction” - Hong Kong (English title)
  70. The Scarlet Seduction (1997)
  71. The Feds: Seduction (1993) (TV)
  72. The First Rule of Seduction (2003)
  73. Two People, Analysis of a Seduction (1991)
  74. Gef?§hrliche Lust - Ein Mann in Versuchung (1998) (TV)
    aka “Scent of Seduction” - Germany (promotional title)
  75. Gioco di seduzione (1990)
    aka “Game of Seduction”
  76. Seduction of a Cyborg (1994)
  77. Verf?ºhrung am Meer (1963)
    aka “Seduction by the Sea”
  78. Seduction of Cyber Jane (2001) (V)
  79. Girl Seduction (2003) (V)
  80. Hilfe, mich liebt eine Jungfrau (1970)
    aka “How to Play the Seduction Game” - USA
  81. Iena, La (1997)
    aka “Fatal Seduction”
  82. The Seduction of Mary Day (1996)
  83. Judo Seduction (2002) (V)
  84. Mishaps of Seduction and Conquest (1984) (V)
  85. Yuhokui saem (1994)
    aka “Fountain of Seduction” - (English title)

Names (Partial Matches) (Displaying 2 Results)

  1. Sweet Seduction (Miscellaneous Crew, The Gift (1988) (TV))
  2. Sonic Seduction (Composer, Overnight Deliveries (1999) (V))
14 Mar 2005

In Search of a Lost Screw

“In one of his books Morelli talks about a Neapolitan who spend years sitting in the doorway of his house looking at a screw on the ground. At night he would pick it up and put it under his mattress. The screw was at first a laugh, a jest, a communal irritation, a neighbourhood council, a mark of civil duties unfulfilled, finally a shrugging of shoulders, peace, the screw was peace, no one could go along the street without looking out of the corner of his eye at the screw and feeling that it was peace. The fellow drop dead of a stroke and the screw disappeared as soon as the neighbours got there. One of them has it; perhaps he takes it out secretly and looks at it, puts it away again and goes off to the factory feeling something that he does not understand, an obscure reproval. He only calms down when he takes out the screw and looks at it, stays looking at it until he hears footsteps and has to put it away quickly. Morelli thought that the screw must have been something else, a god or something like that. Too easy a solution. Perhaps the error was in accepting the fact that the object was a screw simply because it was shaped like a screw. Picasso takes a toy car and turns it into the chin of a baboon. The Neapolitan was most likely an idiot, but he also might have been the inventor of a world. From the screw to an eye, from an eye to a star…”

Cort?°zar, J (1998) Hopscotch. London: Harvill Press

Clearly, the Neapolitan was the victim of seduction. Wondering what type of screw could have such a power, I embarked upon the search of at least one of the qualities that would make me look at and keep a simple screw. DIY shops and designer shops were no good as the screws came in boxes of indistinguishable hundreds. My screw had to be noticeable, if not unique. [note: the screw is already becoming MY screw]. I looked for designers (Alessi, Starck, Kartel, Newson¬Ö) in the hope of them being interested in such a modest object. Corkscrews is the closer they get to it and the cheerfulness of that object slightly defeats the purpose of my quest. I am not looking for a gloomy object, but one that strangely leads the owner astray.

The internet is always a good source for unexpected and inexplicable things. I now know everything about screws, or rather, fasteners and bolts, in all their shapes, heads types, measurements and history but haven¬ít found what I am looking for. I suddenly have a lucky thought and, in the brink of despair I decide to adjectivise the word screw with artistic qualities. I type ‘bright coloured screw’ -always in singular- into Google and what I get is not altogether hopeless. The brightness, the size, the shape of the head and the narrowness of its spiral indentation have something fascinating about them:

I think I would like to buy one of these and further the experiment by furtively looking at it time and time again…

17 Jan 2005

Agrippina

Agrippina writes: “The manner of holding the hands in the preparatory position, as well as in the subsequent positions, can be shown only in actual demonstrations. It is very difficult to describe. To a certain extent, the accompanying illustrations will help. I shall add the following explanation.”

The merit of Ms Vaganova isn’t in her foolish attempt to write about what cannot be written; nor is her clumsy but charming style, difficult to see in this minimal quote. What makes her so great is her worry about legacy. Before her, nobody had attempted to write, to articulate for posterity the principles of Russian ballet technique. If she hadn’t been there, pen in hand, trying to describe the dos and don’ts of a perfect pli?© and the relationship of the Russian syllabus to Ceccheti’s teaching method despite her knowledge that this vast task was partly in vain, we wouldn’t have technically and aesthetically natural ballerinas. Russia couldn’t have attained the top of the ballet ranks either.

Vaganova knew that ballet teaching, particularly when it came to sorting out frustrations, shouldn’t be a lonely enterprise. She set out to share her experiences and experiments, trying to design a good pedagogical basis that would enhance not only the pupil’s suppleness but their continuous progress as well.

What I am trying to do starts with the unspeakable too, or rather with what no one has taken the pains to describe. And here I am, marvelling at Vaganova’s awkward prose and thanking her for being so generous.

16 Jan 2005

Post Christmas Post

It has taken me all this time to come back here. My mum’s Christmas present (a 3-day visit to the dentist), essays on teaching and knowledge (which I handed today) and general tedium of life as it currently is didn’t contribute to make the journey any quicker. Besides, as R- pointed out to me in the wonderful launch party of the no less wonderful Mind’s Construction, everything cannot be written about.

My Christmas presents included 7 books and a Concise Oxford English Dictionary. All of the books and part of the dictionary try to express the unspeakable. While Octavio Paz succeeds by taking the pseudo-scientific-descriptive approach to talk about Marcel Duchamp’s Le Grand Verre (La mariée mise à nu par ses celibataires, même), poor Agrippina Vaganova, in her famous book on Russian Ballet Technique, can’t stop excusing herself for not being able to convey the right way of executing a plié. The fact that Octavio Paz goes beyond the very complicated piece of work ( Le Grand Verre is often referred to the Finnegan’s Wake of the art world), enhancing my enjoyment of the book and of Duchamp’s art, gives me a doubly satisfactory hope:
1. Good writing and rigorous writing can occasionally be found in the same piece
2. No everything can be written about.

The 6 ballet entries in My Documents folder weren’t after all a waste of time. I can now keep on dancing without the pressure of having to record the ways in which my heart leaps with a Grande Jete en tournant.

Current readings:

8 Dec 2004

Law of Desire


…necesitaba tenerte asi al precio que fuera…
…I needed to have you like this at whatever the price…

Law of desire by Pedro Almodovar, 1986