Other iconoclasts, libertines, hedonists and profligates; dissolute aristocrats; decadence of the fin de siècle; Simon Raven's tales of boarding school buggery; the Perry Bible Fellowship; Jennifer Beals; serious literature; cultural criticism and film theory; Massimo Vignelli's graphic design; Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton movies; intellectual history of any sort; platform tennis; squash; skiing; historic preservation, mid-century Modernism and contemporary architecture and design; among other things
ARTISTS AND FILMMAKERS WHO CREATE DARINGLY PROVOCATIVE FILMS, WHETHER AS INDEPENDENT NARRATIVE CINEMA OR AS LESS CONVENTIONAL VIDEO ART; AS WELL AS VISUAL ARTISTS WHO SEEK MY COLLABORATION AS A MODEL OR MUSE.
As for friends, I'm typically drawn to elegantly decadent types, culturally sophisticated and personally evolved, preoccupied with ideas and a life of the mind; those whose wit and sense of style are entirely their own. Above all, one's abiding decency and integrity are what speak most to me, along with reasonably impeccable manners and a universal regard for mankind, particularly those less fortunate. Probity, purpose, perseverance and pluck are key. Civility and grace, without question. Behaving honorably is not just for heroes; it means standing by your word and delivering as promised. Believing in something and making a difference shouldn't necessitate an announcement or require recognition, for accomplishment is its own reward. Does anyone else find gratitude so frightfully undervalued in this society? Take nothing and no one for granted and you'll sleep better at night. In the end, that elusive fiber known as 'character' is the only true measure of our worth.
Les Baxter, Olivier Messiaen, Sparks, The Raveonnettes, Henry Mancini, 101 Strings, Ray Coniff Singers, Barbra Streisand's vocalise of Fauré's "Pavane," Elvis Perkins, Serge Gainsbourg, Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66, György Ligeti, Caetano Veloso, Dandy Warhols, Ennio Morricone, Thomas Hug, Tom Waits, Sylvie Courvoisier, Animal Collective, The Association, Philip Glass's Dance Pieces and his more recent film scores, Fioritura, Steve and Edie, Sinatra, Shirley Bassey, 1960s garage bands, 1960s Euro cinema scores, T-Rex, Kinks, Jethro Tull, ELO, MC Solaar, Decemberists, Kronos Quartet, Erik Satie, Wilco, Diamanda Galas, Tallis Scholars, The Cowsills, Anglican sacred music, Iannis Xenakis, George Dalares, Schuman's Piano Concerto, White Stripes, among numerous others
DIRECTORS: Guy Maddin, Carmelo Bene, Olivier Assayas, Hal Ashby, Erich Rohmer, Herzog, Ozon, Chabrol, Tarkovsky, Visconti, Pasolini, Fellini, Cassavettes, Bergman, Kenneth Anger, Jodorowsky, Shirley Jackson, Guy Debord, Michael Haneke, Curtis Harrington, Woody Allen, John Schlesinger, Radley Metzger, Lucky McKee, Gaspar Noé, John Frankenheimer, Henry Jaglom; FILMS: Two for the Road, Ils (Them), Withnail & I, Inland Empire, Mindwalk, Play It As It Lays, Imaginary Heroes, Maidstone, Games, The Rain People, Four Flies on Grey Velvet, Last Year at Marienbad, Eyes of Laura Mars, Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice?, Last Summer in the Hamptons, Alice, Sweet Alice, Five Easy Pieces, Les Choristes, Bonjour, Tristesse, Swimming Pool, What's Up, Doc?, For Pete's Sake, Warhol's movies, A Delicate Balance, The Party, The Trip, Yours, Mine and Ours, Staircase, The Children's Hour, The Fox, The Killing of Sister George, The Love Machine, Nashville, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Seven-Ups, The Incident, Diary of a Mad Housewife, A Reflection of Fear, Scream, Pretty Peggy, You'll Like My Mother, Eyes of Laura Mars, Persona, Autumn Sonata, Wild Strawberries, The 400 Blows, Cries and Whispers, Seconds, Goodbye, Columbus, The Sterile Cuckoo, The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, Joe, Overboard, Juliet of the Spirits, Fame, Shampoo, A Wedding, Anything Joseph Losey directed, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, too many films from Hammer, Shepperton and Ealing Studios (UK), Made for Each Other, Coming Apart, Let's Scare Jessica to Death, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, The Driver's Seat, Divorce His/Divorce Hers
THE L WORD!!! Inspector Linley Mysteries, Little Britain, Extras, Arrested Development, Lovespring International, Rescue Me, The Sopranos, Big Love, Six Feet Under, Nip/Tuck, Oz, Footballers Wives, Frontline, Night Gallery, Bewitched, Britcoms, The Avengers, The Persuaders, The Prisoner, To Tell the Truth (1969-1977), Zoom, Degrassi--every iteration, including the current one on The N
"The Secret Lives of People in Love" by Simon Van Booy is simply transcendent; and "Earthly Powers" by Anthony Burgess is a masterpiece and arguably the greatest novel of the 20th century. In general, I'm drawn less to specific titles than I am to authors and thinkers, including Cavafy, Benjamin, Adorno, Deleuze, Foucault, Sontag, Barthes, Baudrillard, Artaud, Derrida, Debord, Lacan, Kristeva, Melville, Paul Goodman, L.P. Hartley, Cheever, Leonard Michaels, Deborah Eisenberg, Muriel Spark, Simon Raven, Denis Johnson, Paula Fox ("The Widow's Children" most especially), Paul Auster, Patricia Highsmith, Gore Vidal's essays, Fran Lebowitz, Robert Musil, Barbara Pym, Doris Grumbach, David Foster Wallace, Stephen Birmingham, Francine du Plessix Gray, Lewis Lapham, William Gaddis, Elias Canetti, Marguerite Yourcenar, Rilke's poetry, John Irving, Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Greil Marcus, Rosalind Krauss, J.P. Donleavy, Ann Pyne (Has she published since her intoxicating 1992 collection of elegantly spare stories, "In the Form of a Person"?); and too many others to list here
Gore Vidal, Geraldine Page, Norman Mailer, Massimo Vignelli, Charlotte Rampling, Baudelaire, Simon Raven, Robert Silvers & Barbara Epstein, Michel Foucault, Elizabeth Montgomery, Herman Melville, Viveca Lindfors, Louis Auchincloss, Sir Norman Foster, Stephen Fry, Henry James, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Ben Bradlee, Bob Barker, Dr Renee Richards, Bette Davis, J.-K. Huysmans, Anthony Perkins, Pasolini, Taki Theodoracopulos, Katharine Hepburn, Marlo Thomas, Fran Lebowitz, Orianna Fallaci, John Cheever, Gianni Agnelli, Dina Merrill, L.P. Hartley, John Weitz, Rimbaud & Verlaine, Ruth Gordon, Kitty Carlisle Hart, all of Bloomsbury, Lord Byron and Ninon de Lanclos