THE CZECH NEW WAVE

there are a lot of opinions concerning the explosion of Czech films in the 60s….when it began???  why it grew and persisted??? and what happened??   basically, the Czech New Wave erupted around 1964 with a meld of gifted artists and a government funded film industry centered in Prague….some of the films were slice-of-life…some historical…some semi-documentary in format…basically non-threatening to an Eastern Bloc country…however, a number of these films were socially barbed…controversial…and quite subversive….IMHO, the CNW began in 1964…flourished for five years…and more or less ended in 1969 after the Soviet invasion of 1968….here are some of the star players!!

MILOS FORMAN… best known in the West for CUCKOO’S NEST and AMADEUS…emigrated early from Czechoslovakia…. LOVES OF A BLONDE (1965) is his signature masterpiece…a bittersweet story of a working girl and a musician…full of humor and pathos….BLACK PETER and THE FIREMAN’S BALL are other notable efforts…

JIRI MENZEL… exploded onto the film scene with his debut feature CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS (1966)… this WWII pararable is full of humor and insight into human foibles, with a distinct Czech viewpoint of life…great performances…Academy Award winner…Menzel made LARKS ON A STRING (1969), which was so anti-communist that it was banned for 20+ years…

VERA CHYTILOVA… a feminist filmmaker from the early 60s…rose to prominence with DAISIES (1967)… basically a plotless film with numerous set pieces involving the two Maries…controversial…subversive…funny…avant-garde…and yes there are Daisies in the film…how this got released is amazing…maybe because it was apolitical??

JAN NEMEC… best known in the West for DIAMONDS OF THE NIGHT (1966)…another well told WWII story…two Jewish boys escape a prison train and struggle to survive alone and with help….very humanely told without being maudlin or mawkish…. REPORT ON THE PARTY AND THE GUESTS is Nemec’s most famous film…intensely critical and anti-establishment….the film was “banned forever” and made Jan a persona non grata..

JAN KADAR… before emigating to Canada, JK made the deeply personal SHOP ON MAIN STREET (1965)… yet another WWII story of a Czech Everyman forced to become the overseer of an elderly Jewish woman’s button shop…a wonderfully told and paced story…another Acadamey Award winner…

FRANTISEK VLACIL… MARKETA LAZAROVA (1968)… a epic 3 hour saga of 13th century Bohemia, concerning the clash between the last remnants of paganism and the Christian majority…a visual delight…long stretches of snow…wolves…forest…mountains…voted the best Czech film of all time…

JIRI WEISS… http://www.allmovie.com/artist/jir%C3%AD-weiss-p116325    “possible” New Wave director…

KAREL KACHNYA… http://www.allmovie.com/artist/karel-kachyna-p96541  am only familiar with UCHO…

IVAN PASSER… http://www.allmovie.com/artist/ivan-passer-p105732  well known in the West…I have heard of INTIMATE LIGHTING!!

BILL MOYERS SPEAKS

http://billmoyers.com/segment/bill-moyers-essay-the-ghost-of-mccarthyism/

a chilling observation of modern politics and McCarthyism!!!

from SWEET DADDY ROSES

When 3 people have sex, it’s called a Threesome.

 

When 2 people have sex, it’s called a Twosome.

 

Now I know why they call you Handsome!

AMERIKA

DANIEL ELLSBERG SPEAKS

Richard Nixon, if he were alive today, might take bittersweet satisfaction to know that he was not the last smart president to prolong unjustifiably a senseless, unwinnable war, at great cost in human life. (And his aide Henry Kissinger was not the last American official to win an undeserved Nobel Peace Prize.) He would probably also feel vindicated (and envious) that ALL the crimes he committed against me–which forced his resignation facing impeachment–are now legal. That includes burglarizing my former psychoanalyst's office (for material to blackmail me into silence), warrantless wiretapping, using the CIA against an American citizen in the US, and authorizing a White House hit squad to "incapacitate me totally" (on the steps of the Capitol on May 3, 1971). All the above were to prevent me from exposing guilty secrets of his own administration that went beyond the Pentagon Papers. But under George W. Bush and Barack Obama,with the PATRIOT Act, the FISA Amendment Act, and (for the hit squad) President Obama's executive orders. they have all become legal. There is no further need for present or future presidents to commit obstructions of justice (like Nixon's bribes to potential witnesses) to conceal such acts. Under the new laws, Nixon would have stayed in office, and the Vietnam War would have continued at least several more years. Likewise, where Nixon was the first president in history to use the 54-year-old Espionage Act to indict an American (me) for unauthorized disclosures to the American people (it had previously been used, as intended, exclusively against spies), he would be impressed to see that President Obama has now brought five such indictments against leaks, almost twice as many as all previous presidents put together (three). He could only admire Obama's boldness in using the same Espionage Act provisions used against me–almost surely unconstitutional used against disclosures to the American press and public in my day, less surely under the current Supreme Court–to indict Thomas Drake, a classic whistleblower who exposed illegality and waste in the NSA. Drake's trial begins on June 13, the 40th anniversary of the publication of the Pentagon Papers. If Nixon were alive, he might well choose to attend.

from a recent CNN interview...

found on reddit.com

GOD SPEAKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS....

APOCALYPSE RIGHT NOW!!!

ENDLESS PINBALL GIF

The Sense and Morality of Agnosticism | Truthout

from VINCENT BUGLIOSI...quite an interesting read....ABE LINCOLN quote!!!

THANX TO "W"hat a creepy, little douche!!!

ARE YOU OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN A ?

http://www.truthout.org/haymarket-and-chicago-idea-resonate-125-years-later/1304530445
the background story and history of the HAYMARKET riots!!!

The History of May Day

from marxists.org...give it a try!!!

DE-MOTIVATIONAL POSTERS

PLUTOCRACY NOW!!!

Only Little People Pay Taxes Mother Jones
I really like this series!!!

3/4ths of Senate GOP Doesn't Believe in Science -- When Did Republicans Go Completely Off the Deep End? | | AlterNet

come on!!! even GOD believes in science!!!!

The War on Elizabeth Warren - NYTimes.com

she is one of the few sticking up for the middle class and the rest of us "working stiffs"

READ OR DIE!!!!

ONLY IN AMERIKA!!!!

Chris Hedges | Huffington's Plunder

Chris Hedges Huffington's Plunder
the number of people that suck/are stupid/are sellouts et cetera in this endeavor are countless...at the top is the queen of douchbagistan...one ARIANA HUFFINGTON...she needs to crawl into a hole with OPRAH!!

WE AIN'T IN KANSAS ANYMORE!!

http://www.cdc.gov/features/OrganSafety/
this is what I read, while the rest of you are watching AMERICAN IDOL!!!  lol!!