cabiria

Honoring Constantine Pantazonis - RIP 6/16/14
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To honor our site members who are no longer with us.
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constantine
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cabiria

Post by constantine » April 13th, 2008, 10:54 am

but what is it that you want?
you have walked the streets of the city at night
opened your door to strangers
who pay as they go, occasionally
one reminds you of a childhood friend
when your hair was long and dark
when you went to church
when you still had faith
as a child has faith
and you want it back
you want to see your father's eyes
you want to believe and be believed
you want a string of pearls
each perfect in its imperfection
like a dimple next to a smile
you want to believe and be believed
the grace of god, redemption
these things exist you tell yourself
repeatedly you tell yourself
over and over you tell yourself
antithetical to your experience
contrary to the evidence of your days
he breaks your heart with nonchalance
steals your purse as the sun rises
in the cold water's chill you are baptized
they've picked your bones and picked them clean
over and over the lies fall like acid rain
this is the epic saga
this is the iliad of your life
no ajax to shield you from the onslaught
no war cry of diomedes
no odysseus returning
this is the iliad of your life
penelope has run away with a suitor
your house has been plundered
the dog has died on a hill of dung
you travel through the mist into a theatre of shadows
where halos dissolve into moonlight fizzing
champagne deception and bromo remorse
you dance the mambo around the golden calf
you cling like plastic and call it love
you open the window and gasp for air
strains of music fill your lungs
the children smile and wink in passing
it is not over yet
Last edited by constantine on April 14th, 2008, 2:22 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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mnaz
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Post by mnaz » April 13th, 2008, 1:32 pm

with each theft,
with each deception,
it slips a little further away,
but never quite out of reach..
spare the church and "keep the faith"...

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Doreen Peri
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Post by Doreen Peri » April 13th, 2008, 1:57 pm

this is a beautifully written piece

i'm not familiar with the film... maybe one day i'll see it

just found an interesting band by the same name

check it out
http://www.cabiriamusic.com/music.html#

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constantine
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Post by constantine » April 13th, 2008, 3:13 pm

it's fantastic - hilarious and tragic, one of his best. fellini is the greatest poet of the 20th century in my opinion. here's a couple of clips from the nights of cabiria.


http://youtube.com/watch?v=jj8AU1IeaCs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F86ZscT_kLw&NR=1

Totenkopf

Post by Totenkopf » April 13th, 2008, 3:38 pm

ah yeah reminds one of steely dan: "....it's yr favorite foreign moo-vee..."
Donny F a better "poet' than a boxcar of talent nite artistes, eh.
:lol:

Cassanova a must seee fer all hipster-wannabes.......FF was a great cartoonist

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constantine
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Post by constantine » April 13th, 2008, 4:02 pm

satyricon ain't no slouch either, but i prefer his films of the fifties and sixties. totenkopf, i feel like i owe you an apology for a terse answer to your comment on red day. i was kind of pissed as you might have realized by the tone of the poem. at any rate, i am sorry. steely dan is one of my favorite us bands.

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Arcadia
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Post by Arcadia » April 13th, 2008, 4:07 pm

FF was a great cartoonist yes, it was!!!!!! I´ve seen one of them about him diving in a Mastroianni memories´s book, very funny!!!!!! :wink:

and ahhh... Fellini! (make you annoy, want to cry, want to laugh, smile and wonder all at the same time -also in my caso to notice that not only in my family there were that kind of shouts! :lol: ). Mina´s version of the song is also beautiful "perchè l´amore che vuoi tuuuu non c´èeeeeeee...!!!!" I guess that was more or less part of the lyrics!!!!!!

thanks for sharing!!! :)

Totenkopf

Post by Totenkopf » April 13th, 2008, 4:10 pm

really prefer fagen/becker's best stuff (at least an hour or so of pleasant noise) to Fellini's cartoons. Or for cartoons, first Heavy Metal was alright. Im more into animation than "cinema." Filmmakers, even great ones like Fellini or Bergman, are the great phonies of the 20th century. They not only rip off writers, but musicians and actors too.

Satyricon is wild tho: and no royalties owing to Petronius Arbiter. Another flick I enjoyed was Amarcord. Me latin's not so great, but really FF had to tone Satyricon down: it's a bit beyond Caligula or hardcore porn. Polysexual orgies with humans of all ages, some torture, a few sacrifices: probably would not make it past italian censors

Totenkopf

Post by Totenkopf » April 13th, 2008, 4:38 pm

Lo sieento.Trifle rude. the point remains--Satyricon the flick has little to do with the way scary text, quite beyond Billy Burroughs' fantasies. That's how the movie bidness (even euro one), operates. Same thing happened with Naked Lunch, really.

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constantine
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Post by constantine » April 13th, 2008, 5:03 pm

all artists influence one another. if fellini and bergman are phonies then who isn't? cinema is a collaborative effort - like theatre or opera. the director orchestrates the elements into composition - like any artist.

Totenkopf

Post by Totenkopf » April 13th, 2008, 5:32 pm

if fellini and bergman are phonies then who isn't?
That's jus it man! It's like omniphonyism. 8) J-k. Petronius however depraved was no phony: Fellini just illustrates the tale (and sort of PG-13's it). Or besser example: Great Gatsby. The novel may not equal, er, say Crime and Punishment, but somewhat intense, meaningful, political, etc. By the time Ho-wood, Redferd, and whatever auteur directed it finished Gatsby it played about like an episode of Desperate Housewives...................actually tamer (DH wants to be some steamy bi porn I think). One could pick all sorts of other novels and demonstrate the same neutering process. I will grant that that doesn't always happen however: Blade Runner made from PK Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric sheep" actually sort of pushed the book into different direction. The flick's hardly the same as novel though.

I'm not really into postmodernism, but I do sort of agree with Baudrillard that Hollywood creates these artificial dream-visions --a Simulacra, if you will--which generally function as a great deception. Who cares about the economy, or war, or political issues: Georgie Lucas has a new space opera coming out, and ..........a Luke Skywalker travel mug! Be sure to get yrs

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constantine
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Post by constantine » April 13th, 2008, 5:55 pm

just illustrates? the film is visually stunning - it is not a rehash of petronius; fellini makes his own statement. as an artist, i'll take fellini over petronius anytime, but that is just my opinion - a value judgment, no more no less.. there are hacks in cinema - there are hacks in every art. as for petronius not being a phony, well, we have no way of ascertaining that. at any rate, its been nice talking however different our opinions may be.

oh yes, lest i forget, thanks arcadia!
Last edited by constantine on April 13th, 2008, 5:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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mnaz
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Post by mnaz » April 13th, 2008, 5:58 pm

wow...

Am I the only one who just tried to read the text?

Man, I'm in over my head here..

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constantine
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Post by constantine » April 13th, 2008, 6:00 pm

hi mnaz. what text? did someone post a poem?

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mnaz
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Post by mnaz » April 13th, 2008, 6:02 pm

constantine wrote:hi mnaz. what text? did someone post a poem?
you did.

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