Site of the Week: Not Coming to a Theater Near You

This week’s entry is a real treat for me because I do have a thing for older movies, B-movies and relatively unpopular ones, and a lot of these jems are long out of theaters. Some aren’t even available in widescreen yet.

Not Coming to a Theater Near You

 

Straight from the site :

Not Coming to a Theater Near You’ began as a printed column in 1998, was published in varying capacities, and arrived at its current form as this web site (launched in October 2001). If not discerned in its title, this site assumes a bias towards older, often unpopular, and sometimes unknown films that merit a second look. This site caters specifically to those who find an impotent similarity in the “New Releases” section of a video store and whatever’s “coming to a theater near you.”

That’s right up my alley!

I haven’t been posting the last few days because I’ve been busy with other stuff. My goal was to share something that came to mind at least once every 3-4 days and I do have a few other things lined up.

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Site of the Week: mincasa

Mincasa is a blog dedicated to minimal housing and I must say, almost every entry is as wonderful as the last. This is an examination of how little it takes to live comfortably and maintain your privacy. I have always wanted to live in a small house with just the bare essentials and the last year, especially when I was going through a difficult time securing a loan for a new apartment, I almost bought some property to build a small house to live in instead.

mincasa – a minimal blog for minimal houses

The design of these houses are simply magnificient and I hope to see more and more of these than the (empty) pseudo castles that scatter across the country. The houses are as much a shelter as they are works of art.

Today’s entry is actually thanks to Kelly who reminded me that the simple life really is the best life by posting a comment on my last post. I haven’t done this in over a year and it’s time to start again. Hopefully, we’ll have a new Site of the Week every Tuesday and, as soon as I get a chance to watch one, we’ll restart the Movie of the Week again every Thursday.

Site of the Week: Materialicious

After a looong delay in posting due to other affairs, we bring in the new year here at Intentionally Left Ugly with a site that displays what I believe to be the most honest expression of progress and functionality. This is a site that can please the eyes of all beholders.

Shelter, Materials & Objects

Following the words of William Morris,

If you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

The sentiment is also remarkably similar to my programming philoshopy which ingratiated this site so much to me.

Site of the Week: Concept ships

From the retro-futuristic to the truly beyond-this-world artistry exploring design concepts for spaceships and other craft. This is an amazing collection of beautiful creations by extremely talented artists.

An online animated spaceship and experimental aircraft art magazine

The site is rather packed with a lot of multimedia so it may take a while to load even on broadband. But it’s well worth the wait.

In addition to science fiction works by authors such as Arthur C. Clarke, it’s visionary imagery such as these that inspired my thirst for space.

Movie of the Week: The Color of Pomegranates

Few other works in the artistic world exemplifies the statement that “art flourishes under censorship”. Sergei Parajanov’s work created behind the Iron Curtain is no less than an audio-visual onslaught of poetic metaphor and vision.

The Color of Pomegranates - Sayat Nova

Created in 1968, the film is an exploration of Parajanov’s life without the use of dialogue. The entire story is narrated in imagery and symbolism alone. It would probably take a decade or more to unravel all of the meaning. The film was suppressed in the former Soviet Union and was not widely available outside film festivals in the West.

It stars Sofiko Chiaureli in no less than six roles including that of the male poet and main character Sayat Nova, the King of Song.

Sadly, Parajanov didn’t live long enough to see his work flourish. He passed away in 1990 after a battle with lung cancer. Arguably caused by his years of incarceration in a labor camp as punishment for expressing his views.

The film had such a strong impact on the musical group Juno Ractor (known for their contributions to the Matrix trilogy soundtrack), that they fashioned a music video composed entirely of imagery from the movie.

Not quite the original film, but you get the idea of what you would be missing if you don’t watch it.