games, Uncategorized

1042 – ШХД: ЗИМА / IT’S WINTER

Panel houses, snow, overcast sky, tiny kitchen, shabby staircase… It’s Winter is an indie game which genre could be classified as sandbox, post-soviet, sad 3d, russian sadness. Nothing awaits you: there is no chance to get out, no room for adventures and breathtaking plot. Just a broken radio, refrigerator filled with food, loneliness and endless snow.

This game created by Ilya Mazo in collaboration with well-known underground game designer Alexander Ignatov (sad3d) is a part of the “ШХД: ЗИМА” multi-platform project which consists of the book, music album, short film and theatre play. (steam)

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (MINIMUM): OS: Windows 7 / Processor: Intel Celeron G3900 or AMD A6-9500 / Memory: 512 MB RAM / Graphics: GeForce GT 430 or ATI Radeon HD 4670 / DirectX: Version 9.0 / Storage: 300 MB available space / Sound Card: Compatible with DirectX 9

movies

1032 – The Last Samurai (2003)

timespace coordinates: 1876 – 1877 California > Japan25b37ffea8d32331The Last Samurai is a 2003 American period action drama film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Logan and Marshall Herskovitz. The film stars Tom Cruise, who also co-produced, with Timothy SpallKen WatanabeBilly ConnollyTony GoldwynHiroyuki SanadaKoyuki, and Shin Koyamada in supporting roles.

Tom Cruise portrays a United States Captain of the 7th Cavalry Regiment, whose personal and emotional conflicts bring him into contact with samurai warriors in the wake of the Meiji Restoration in 19th Century Japan.

The film’s plot was inspired by the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion led by Saigō Takamori, and the westernization of Japan by foreign powers, though in the film the United States is portrayed as the primary force behind the push for westernization. To a lesser extent it is also influenced by the stories of Jules Brunet, a French army captain who fought alongside Enomoto Takeaki in the earlier Boshin War and Frederick Townsend Ward, an American mercenary who helped Westernize the Chinese army by forming the Ever Victorious Army. (wiki)

imdb   /  Criticism and debate

animation, movies, Uncategorized

1011 – The House That Jack Built (2018)

timespace coordinates:  1970s and 1980s  Washington.

!extreme violence!

THTJB-AlternatePosterThe-House-That-Jack-Built-Movie-Poster-LarsThe House That Jack Built is a 2018 psychological horror art film written and directed by Lars von Trier, starring Matt Dillon in the title role of Jack. The story follows Jack, a serial killer, over the course of 12 years in the 1970s and 1980s in the U.S. state of Washington. The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, marking von Trier’s return to the festival after more than six years. (wiki)

The shot of Jack and Verge standing in a boat strongly resembles the painting “La Barque de Dante” by Eugène Delacroix, which was in itself influenced by “The Raft of the Medusa” (Le Radeau de La Méduse) by Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault. (read more: trivia)

von Trier described the film as celebrating “the idea that life is evil and soulless”.

imdb   /   rottentomatoes

documentary, Uncategorized

1009 – The Secret Life of Plants (1979)

The Secret Life of Plants (1973) is a book by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird. The book documents controversial experiments that claim to reveal unusual phenomena regarding plants such as plant sentience, discovered through experimentation. It goes on to discuss philosophies and progressive farming methods based on these findings. The book was heavily criticized by scientists for promoting pseudoscientific claims.

The book was the basis for the 1979 documentary of the same name, directed by Walon Green and featuring a soundtrack by Stevie Wonder, later released as Journey through the Secret Life of Plants. The film made use of time-lapse photography (where plants are seen growing in a few seconds, creepers reach out to other plants and tug on them, mushrooms and flowers open). (wiki)

The Secret Life of Plants Hi res on youtube


imdb