The Ice Storm 1973 and the Erlkoenig today
Recently I saw a fantastic theater play “The Erlkoenig”, which was a German adaptation of the movie “The Ice Storm” by the Taiwanese-born director Ang Lee. In the movie 1973, suburban Connecticut, middle class families experimenting with casual sex, drink and drugs find their lives out of control. Both scripts show frequent symbolism and formal...
The magic of outstanding pictures – quality methodology and communication theory
As a photographer, your eye is your lens. This essay gives a basic understanding, why excellent pictures (paintings or photographs) succeed. After you start exploring the world with this mindset, you’ll find that you automatically begin to see things differently. I got the idea from an excellent book of the Swiss photographer Martin Zurmuehle, “The...
Advice to young people.
Patti Smith. Published on Dec 6, 2012 Interviewed in London. “Build a good name”, rock poet Patti Smith advises the young. “Life is like a roller coaster, it is going to have beautiful moments but it is going to be real fucked up, too”. Stay clean, stay healthy there are a lot of challenges ahead. ...
Oscars 2013 – LA is not Cannes.
The winners for the 85th Academy Awards have been announced, and as ever, there are few true surprises. Spielberg’s “Lincoln” is a well deserved looser. Quentin Tarantino’s (the violent enfant terrible) got with Django Unchained just indirectly credit for the Supporting Role. Amour is good movie, probably the only art movie. Otherwise only save Hollywood choices. “Zero Dark...
Wong Kar Wai Berlinale
The Berlin film festival kicked with The Grandmaster, a martial arts epic from Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai who is also presiding over this year’s jury. Asian stars including Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Zhang Ziyi were present. The annual Berlinale, now in its 63rd year, is one of Europe’s most important film festivals, and alongside it runs a large-scale...
Leni Riefenstahl – Three strikes and you're out.
Whatever you can say about Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003) and plenty of people have said (and written) a lot about her, she led a fascinating life. She was beautiful and talented. She was a woman in a man’s field. She made her career during Hitler’s Third Reich. Three strikes and you’re out. Riefenstahl’s life Despite (I...
Wangner Ring Cycle – so called Kupfer Version at Bayreuth (German).
Besser kann große Kunst zuhause nicht erfahren werden., Amazon Review 23. Juli 2012 Ich maße mir nicht an ein Kunst- oder gar Wagnerkritiker zu sein. Es geht um 7 hochwertige DVDs und ob diese Bayreuth und Wagner korrekt abbilden. Die Antwort ist, ja unbedingt. Die Neuauflage der Produktion bietet Breitwandformat und Surroundklang, so dass die...
Richard Wagner from Scene to Scene utilizing C.G. Jung
“Wagner’s Ring and Its Symbols” originally published 1984. (Engish and German article). I wanted to learn more about Wagner and bought therfore recently a used copy of the English musicologist Robert Donington. He provides an allegorical interpretation of the Wagners Ring Cycle according to the criteria music, drama and the psychological analysis of C.G. Jung. I have...
Rainy Götterdämmerung in Munich.
This is a very personal take on the opera cycle by Richard Wagner’s “Ring” from a Jungian perspective, how the themes of the Ring, though universal, specifically apply to our lives today. Kent Nagano The Munich Opera Festival draws for over 130 years opera fans to Munich, and as one of the oldest international festival...
Der Tod und das Mädchen
Der Tod und das Mädchen. Zürich. (0) Thursday, November 4, 2010, 19:08 ( 4 views ) – – Posted by Administrator Der Tod und das Mädchen ist ein Sujet der Malerei, “Der Tod und das Mädchen oder Der Tod und die Wollust” von Grien aus dem Jahre 1517, ausgestellt in Basel und der Musik, das Streichquartett Nr....
Norma»-Inszenierung im Zürcher Opernhaus
Bildertheater: Die «Norma»-Inszenierung im Zürcher Opernhaus (0) Ein trauriger Tag in Zürich, ich musste eine billige Karte aufbrauchen. Limitierte Sicht, aus der man aber etwas machen kann, ich konnte in der dritten Reihe aufstehen. Die Oper war es wert. Ausverkauft noch dazu. Ästhetik, Lichtkunst, minimalistische Bewegungen – schon bevor die Handlung einsetzt, wird deutlich, worauf die...
Des hommes et des dieux – von Göttern und Menschen
Des hommes et des dieux – von Göttern und Menschen (0) Ging in letzter Minute ins Zürich Arthouse Movie: Der Regisseur Xavier Beauvois zeigte im “Des hommes et des dieux” das Blutbad, welches islamische Terroristen am 18. März des Jahres 1996 anrichteten, als sie sieben französische Mönche entführten und am 30. Mai enthaupteten.Wir befinden uns in den neunziger...