Better Than Friday - 287 (Patreon)

Good evening ya'll, just dropped a review of the inimitable "Naked Lunch" by William S. Burroughs - 'bout time right?

Hope you dig it, and wishing you a great weekend.

1. A Book I'd Like to Read: Locus Solus by Raymond Roussel (Paid Link)

What looks like an enjoyably strange read indeed.

The premise reminds me of The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares. I wonder if he was inspired by Roussel.

Roussel was an influence on the surrealists.

2. Polish Dark Wave

An absolute banger of a track.

3. Orson Welles on Hemingway

Could've sworn I'd posted this already but can't seem to find it, so apparently not.

Fantastic clip.

4. Camille Paglia on Women and Magic in Hitchcock

This recently came up on my feed.

A wonderful talk on Hitchcock. Her obsessive enthusiasm is palpable.

I completely agree with her that Hitchcock's "Vertigo" is "like a life experience", and distinctly remember where and when I first saw that film. Same with "Rear Window".

Working on the next installment of the Sexual Personae series, thanks for your patience.

5. Mina in the film "Urlatori alla sbarra"Wow - I haven't seen the whole film but there's a lot going on in this clip.

Aside from the incredible Italian singer Mina, it features Adriano Celantano on guitar, the fellow who made "Prisencolinensinainciusol", that song in an entirely made-up English-sounding language with one of the most incredibly choreographed music videos I've seen.

There's a cameo from Chet Baker in the bathtub.

And finally, this film was directed by the cult Italian horror director Lucio Fulci - the guy who made the film "Zombie" wherein a zombie fights a shark.

What a combination...

Found the clip via @visititaly

EXTRA 6. William S. Burroughs Lecture

Last one from Burroughs for a while, but this is great.

Took a tour of The Frogmore Plantation in Mississippi with my family, which was very thorough, and included the experience of picking cotton. Not easy (thorns are huge) and I can only imagine doing it in the heat. Photo by my Mom