The Mayfair Witches

The Lives of The Mayfair Witchesnovels are a trilogy written by the horror author Anne Rice. They feature the Mayfair Family, haunted by a demon called Lasher. The trilogy consists of: The Witching Hour, Lasher, and Taltos. From The Mayfair Witchescollection, only The Witching Hour seems to provide much of a coherent story, though the other works have considerable information on Rice’s world of witchcraft, spirits, and human-like aliens as well as the Mayfair family of witches itself. The three titles are excellently read by Joe Morton, Lindsay Crouse, and Tim Curry, but it’s unclear what the producer was trying to accomplish by arranging the set out of chronological order. The action in Lasher logically follows that of The Witching Hour, which ends describing the relationship of Rowan Mayfair with the spirit Lasher. Taltos seems to be a vehicle to redefine Lasher, killed off in the earlier work, as a demon who assumed the identity of Mr. Ash/St. Ashlar, a nonhuman, nonvampire being whose kind live for millennia. There’s a lot of pseudomyth touched up with Catholic or voodoo imagery and laced liberally with incestuous or otherwise taboo sex: a Mayfair dynasty no doubt but with no discernible witchcraft and quite a fixation on the female breast. Buy the book

The Tempest

The Tempest is a play written by William Shakespeare. Although listed as a comedy in the first Folio, modern editors have relabelled the play a romance. At the time that it was written it did not attract a significant amount of attention and was to some extent ignored. However, in the twentieth century the play received a sweeping re-appraisal by critics and scholars, to the point that it is now considered one of Shakespeare’s greatest works. (read more…)

Voodoo Island

A wealthy industrialist hires the renowned hoax-buster Phillip Knight (Boris Karloff) to prove that an island he plans to develop isn’t voodoo cursed. However, arriving on the island, Knight soon realizes that voodoo does exist when he discovers man-eating plants and a tribe of natives with bizarre powers. (read more…)

Index of Forbidden Books (Index of Prohibited Books)

Created originally by Pope Paul IV in 1557, the infamous Index of Forbidden Books is a list of books which all Roman Catholics were prohibited from reading or even owning except under special circumstances and with ecclesiastical permission. This was a very serious prohibition because those Catholics who violated it could be punished with excommunication. Books were placed on this Index because they expressed ideas which were contrary to Catholic morals, contrary to Catholic teachings, contained theological errors, or in any way posed a threat to the power of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Enforcement of the prohibitions was given to the Sacred Congregation of the Inquisition of the Roman Catholic Church, later renamed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Updates to the Index were added regularly by either the Congregation or the Pope until its 20th edition in 1948. The Index of Forbidden Books was finally abolished in 1966 by Pope Paul VI because its existence and enforcement had become inconsistent with the growing spirit of free inquiry which had been promoted in the Second Vatican Council. It had also become quite evident that the prohibition simply wasn’t preventing Catholics from becoming aware of and even familiar with the idea that the Index was designed to suppress.
Source: About.com

Bette Davis in Jezebel

Since I was in the mood for a young strong bitchy Bette. Jezebel seemed like the natural choice. Again another strong cast; Bette Davis, Henry Fonda & George Brent. Directed by William Wyler. A beautiful period movie, and while in black and white is alive and vivid. Basic story line: Set in antebellum New Orleans during the early 1850’s, this film follows Julie Marsden through her quest for social redemption on her own terms. Julie is a beautiful and free spirited, rapacious Southern belle who is sure of herself and controlling of her fiancé Preston Dillard, a successful young banker. Julie’s sensitive but domineering personality–she does not want so much to hurt as to assert her independence–forces a wedge between Preston and herself. To win him back, she plays North against South amid a deadly epidemic of yellow fever which claims a surprising victim. (read more…)

Double Fantasy

Strange as it seems now, the last album John Lennon released in his lifetime was intended as a comeback, or rather as a parting wave at retirement: “Watching the Wheels” and “Beautiful Boy” celebrate the joys he found outside the star system, and “(Just Like) Starting Over” is a slightly awkward rocker about rejoining the domestic world that’s also sort of about rejoining the pop world. The studio-pro arrangements are a little too slick, but Lennon rarely sounded happier. Ono, whose songs alternate with his in a series of thematic diptychs, was taking a stab at channeling her artier impulses into pop and is generally less successful–her voice works in a context of art-weirdness, but not as well in conventional tunes. Get Double Fantasy

Emilio Pucci: Fashion Designer

Although each one is unique, you can’t mistake a Pucci print. Since the late-1940s, when Italian skier and socialite Marchese Emilio Pucci casually tried his hand at design, the brand has been synonymous with bold, brightly colored graphic patterns with a kaleidoscopic, slightly psychedelic feel. Pucci prints usually appear on clingy, stretchy fabrics, and are widely applied in every category—evening wear, ready-to-wear, swimwear, accessories, shoes and home décor; they have even been featured in the logo of the Apollo 15 space mission and the interior of a Ford Lincoln Continental. Vintage Pucci is highly collectible, but present designer Christian LaCroix’s more current designs—which use prints from the Pucci archive—are also in high-demand. LVMH acquired a majority interest in the company in 2000. (read more…)

What is it about Harold Bloom?

What is it about Harold Bloom that gets people all worked up? Well, for one, there is almost no way to remain indifferent to a man who writes, “If Yahweh is a man of war, Allah is a suicide bomber.” One would like to think Bloom is being provocative with this phrase, despite his repeated admonitions. In the opening pages of his book “Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine” he clearly states for anyone interested that his intention is neither to ironize nor give offense. (read more…)

Mr. Holland’s Opus with Richard Dreyfuss

An earnest and at times overblown story of a music teacher’s impact on those around him, Mr. Holland’s Opusis at times a genuinely touching drama in the vein of It’s a Wonderful Life. Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind) plays an aspiring composer and musician who takes a job teaching music at a local high school to save money while he composes his music. But when his wife (Glenne Headley) becomes pregnant, Glenn Holland must put aside his dreams and address the everyday realities of his life, from the melancholy and sometimes tragic fates of his students to the discovery that the son he cherishes is deaf. Building to a highly emotional climax in which the teacher sees the impact he’s had on the world around him, Mr. Holland’s Opusis a showcase for a fine Oscar-nominated performance by Dreyfuss and an engaging, heartwarming story. Get Mr. Holland’s Opus

“The Dance” by Hanry Matisse

The Dance is Henri Matisse’s painting which has been defined by art historians as “a key point of his career and in the development of modern painting”. It reflects Matisse’s incipient fascination with primitive art: the intense warm colors against the cool blue-green background and the rhythmical succession of dancing nudes convey the feelings of emotional liberation and hedonism. Two versions of the work exist: the first, now at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, uses paler colors and less detail. It was painted after the fall of the Fauvism movement in 1906. The painting was highly regarded by the artist who once called it “the overpowering climax of luminosity”; it is also featured in the background of Matisse’s La Danse with Nasturtiums (1912). (read more…)