Andrei Codrescu: The Disappearance of the Outside

Andrei Codrescu's The Disappearance of the Outside: A Manifesto for Escape (Ruminator Press, 2001, with new preface; original edition, Addison-Wesley, 1990) does a lot of things at dizzying speed. For one thing, it discusses a lot of literature, particularly Romanian, but also Eastern European in general, and Latin American, with some on North American, too, including from the perspectives of Walt Whitman and William S. Burroughs. There is a lot about Dada, Surrealism and the Beats, about authoritarian society, communist dictatorship and also advertising, technology, propaganda and globalism.

Hopefully, more on this in the future. But in the meantime, one of my favorite lines in this dazzling text is also one of Codrescu's simplest: "Here were books."

This copy signed on March 13, 2002, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. That was a real cool time. Anne Waldman was there, too.

I've been co-reading Gaston Bachelard's The Poetics of Space / La poétique de l'espace, translated by Maria Jolas (1994 edition; orginally published in 1958). Right now, it's as if The Poetics of Space is having a conversation with The Disappearance of the Outside -- right down to "the dialectics of inside and outside" (Bachelard, page 84). A nest, a space, a house, a place -- go, dream cats, go!

Today's Rune: Signals.     

Movies, A-Z

I've been tagged by Bubs to make an A-Z list of movies. The meme originated here.

I'll take this one step beyond and list films A-Z that I really like (or love), and I'll heartily exploit international titles, titles in English translation, and documentaries as needed. Each and every one of these flicks is a choice that comes highly recommended. Here goes:

Affliction (1999). Tour de force with Nick Nolte and James Coburn. Director, Paul Schrader.

Blue Collar (1978). Paul Schrader's hard to find first film, set in Detroit. Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, Yaphet Kotto.

Clockwatchers (1997). Director, Jill Sprecher. Toni Collette, Parker Posey, Lisa Kudrow, Alanna Ubach. If you've ever temped, worked for Kelly Services or Manpower . . .

Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoisie / Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie (1972). Director, Luis Buñuel. Fernando Rey, Paul Frankeur, Delphine Seyrig, Stéphane Audran. This is one I'd watch repeatedly on a desert isle or in Hell, if I could only watch one movie.

Eight Mile (2002). Again, Detroit! Director, Curtis Hanson. Eminem, Kim Basinger, Brittany Murphy, Mekhi Phifer.

From Russia With Love (1963). Director, Terence Young. Sean Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Robert Shaw, Lotte Lenya, Pedro Armendáriz. Let's Just Say Istanbul is a Rough Town.

Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980). Director, William A. Graham. Powers Boothe, Ned Beatty, LeVar Burton, Colleen Dewhurst, Randy Quaid, James Earl Jones. It doesn't get any better than this, or more corndog weird!

Heart of Glass / Herz aus Glas (1976). Director, Werner Herzog. Josef Bierbichler, Stefan Güttler, Clemens Scheitz, Sonja Skiba.

I'm All Right, Jack (1959). Director, John Boulting. Peter Sellers, Richard Attenborough, Margaret Rutherford, Terry-Thomas. Compare Office Space (1999), British style.

Jesus Camp (2006). Directors, Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing. Nails Ted Haggard, for one.

Kinsey (2004). Director, Bill Condon. Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Peter Sarsgaard, Chris O'Donnell, Timothy Hutton, John Lithgow.

Last Picture Show (1971). Director, Peter Bogdanovich. Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottoms, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman, Ellen Burstyn, Eileen Brennan, Randy Quaid, Eileen Brennan, Sam Bottoms, Clu Gulager.

Manhattan (1979). Director, Woody Allen. Woody Allen, Mariel Hemingway, Diane Keaton, Michael Murphy, Meryl Streep.

Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979). Director, Werner Herzog. Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz. Also, F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie des Grauens / Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) with Max Schreck.

O Lucky Man! (1973). Director, Lindsay Anderson. Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Ralph Richardson, Rachel Roberts, Alan Price.

Play Misty for Me (1971). Director, Clint Eastwood. Clint Eastwood, Jessica Walter, Donna Mills, John Larch. Clint's first as director, this is a great early stalker movie -- compare with Alan J. Pakula's Klute (1971).

Queimada / Burn! (1969). Director, Gillo Pontecorvo. Marlon Brando, Evaristo Márquez, Norman Hill, Renato Salvatori, Thomas Lyons.

Road Scholar (1993). Director, Roger Weisberg. Andrei Codrescu, Allen Ginsberg, Tyree Guyton, Detroit!

Stardust Memories (1980). Director, Woody Allen. Woody Allen, Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Harper, Marie-Christine Barrault, Tony Roberts.

Times of Harvey Milk (1984). Director, Rob Epstein. Harvey Milk, Harvey Fierstein (narrator), George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein. Fantastic documentary and Mark Isham soundtrack. I look forward to seeing Gus Van Sant's Milk (2008) and fully support gay/lesbian marriages and unions. (Separate post on that soon).

UFOria (1985). Director, John Binder. Fred Ward, Cindy Williams, Harry Dean Stanton.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008). Director, Woody Allen. Scarlett Johansson,Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall, Patricia Clarkson, Chris Messina. "Speak English!"

Wonder Boys (2000). Director, Curtis Hanson. Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey, Jr., Katie Holmes, Rip Torn. "I am a writer . . ."

Xiao Wu / The Pickpocket (1997). Director, Jia Zhangke. Wang Hongwei, Hao Hongjian, Zuo Baitao.

Year of Living Dangerously (1982). Director, Peter Weir. Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, Michael Murphy, Linda Hunt.

Zentropa / Europa (1991). Director, Lars von Trier. Max von Sydow (narrator), Jean-Marc Barr, Barbara Sukowa, Ernst-Hugo Järegård, Eddie Constantine, Erik Mørk, Henning Jensen. In the morning, the sleeper has found rest on the bottom of the river. The force of the stream has opened the door and is leading you on. Above your body, people are still alive. Follow the river as days go by. Head for the ocean that mirrors the sky. You want to wake up to free yourself of the image of Europa. But it is not possible.

Whew! Now I'm supposed to tag five more people. Please link back to the original meme: http://blogcabins.blogspot.com/2008/11/alphabet-meme.html
It's now your A-Z movie meme mission, should you choose to accept it:

JR
Beth
Rocket Scientist
MacGuffin
Sid


Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.

Ay, Cuba! Ay, Detroit!

Started in on Andrei Codrescu's Ay, Cuba! A Socio-Erotic Journey (with photographs by David Graham; New York: St. Martin's Press, New York and London: Picador, 1999, 2001) . Here's a book that remains timely and relevant -- it should be re-issued in digital format along with Road Scholar (1992-1993).

Codrescu's trenchant observations are refreshingly precise and "non-aligned." Having spent nearly two decades growing up in Romania/Roumania during the Cold War, he is a keen detector of dogma and BS, preferring to cut to chases on his own. "I wanted to go to Cuba," Codrescu attests in his prologue, "because I wanted to see for myself a decomposing ideology before all of its elements transmuted into the noxious gases that gag Eastern Europe now: the secret police turned mafia, the ripoff of state property, the nationalism, xenophobia, fascism, savage capitalism, media kitsch, prostitution, and tragico-hilarious parliamentarianism. If all these elements were already visible in nuce in Cuba, then surely one could see how and why they so quickly metastasized in the ex-commie fiefdom" (p. 8).


Back in 1966, Codrescu lived in Detroit, specifically near Wayne State. He mentions this in Ay Cuba!, living near "The Fifth Estate, still the only continuously published anarchist newspaper in the United States . . . (p. 10). And he mentions other Vietnam War protester neighbors.

Before I post any more on Ay Cuba!, a time out to note contact/internet information about said anarchist publishers -- in case anyone wants to read more and perhaps send in something for their consideration:

Fifth Estate
P.O. Box 201016
Ferndale, MI 48220

The Barn and Fifth Estate Books
P.O. Box 6
Liberty, TN 37095

email: fe@fifthestate.org
website: http://www.fifthestate.org/

Also, Andrei Codrescu's website: http://www.codrescu.com/

Today's Rune: Defense. Ciao, Detroit!

Road Scholar

I don't think Andrei Codrescu's Road Scholar (1992/1993, Roger Weisberg, director, Jean De Segonzac, cinematographer) is available yet on DVD, but it's worth seeing in any form one can find it. It's an American road trip from East to West Coast, touching down in landscapes as diverse as Camden, New Jersey (think Whitman), Hamtramck (Detroit), and San Francisco. Viva the Beats!


Only because we were both smoking cigarettes on the fringes of an Ann Arbor gathering at the time, I met Mr. Codrescu back in 2002. Very cool guy as well as poet, cultural observer and champion. Much more to say, but for now, a nod to Road Scholar while trying to find a copy to watch again.

Today's Rune: Initiation.