“Thank you for going on this journey with me. I’ll see you at the movies.”
— Roger Ebert, 1942-2013
(via itwonlast)
‘I took this picture in William Eggleston’s hometown of Memphis. We’ve been friends for a long time now. For me he’s a real artist, who really just does what he wants, whether it’s in life or in his work. Years ago, when I first met him in Memphis, he had the idea to go on a road trip with me in Bavaria. I couldn’t believe it, just meeting him having been an admirer for so long. Three weeks later, we found ourselves in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, both with cameras around our necks. We drank a lot, ate liver dumpling soup, and ended up not taking a single photograph. William said to me, “We have a few things in common – smoking, drinking and women. Photography just gets us out of the house.”’ -Juergen Teller
Dead at 80, Nagisa Oshima
And for those of you who don’t know Oshima’s films, it’s time to get acquainted.
Men’s clothing is about tiny details, and I hate that. I am very small and I look stupid in a perfectly tailored suit. I want to be able to wear things that don’t fit perfectly, with the sleeves far too long. I wish clothing came with no sizes at all. It would be much better that way.
— Yohji Yamamoto
“My work is not about form follows function, but form follows beauty or, even better, form follows feminine.” — Oscar Niemeyer
“Most writers are perfectly normal in the head and just carry on like wild men; I behave normally but I’m sick inside.” -Yukio Mishima
Legendary Japanese director Wakamatsu Koji has died, it is being reported, after succumbing to injuries sustained last Friday, when he was hit by a taxi in Tokyo. The 76-year-old filmmaker, oft-compared to French New Wave pioneer Jean Luc Godard, had over 100 films to his credit, with his latest, The Millennial Rapture, having just premiered at the Venice International Film Festival last month, and 11.25: The Day Mishima Chose His Fate will play the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival in November.
Wakamatsu made a name for himself in the 1960s and 70s, as a driving force of the pinku-eiga softcore porn industry. Titles such as Go Go Second Time Virgin (1969) and Ecstasy of the Angels (1972) are widely revered as classics of the genre. In later years, Wakamatsu’s films turned more political, but he also achieved more widespread critical acclaim.Recent works such as 2007’sUnited Red Army and 2010’s Caterpillar were both received extremely well. As recently as this month, he was named Asian Filmmaker of the Year by the Busan International Film Festival. (via Twitch)
“In Augusta, to photograph James Brown, these pictures were taken when he suggested we go for a ride. He told me he would show me ‘his town.’ So we jumped into an old car and drove around. He would stop the car when he saw someone sitting in their yard, run up, do the split, yell out, ‘I feel good,’ and jump back in the car and drive off. It was all so spontaneous and hilarious, and it took the onlookers by such surprise. Brown was a fun-loving character and a good sport.” Harry Benson, Photographer
Charles Eames, Charlie Chaplin, Isamu Noguchi and Shirley Yamaguchi during a Japanese tea ceremony held at the Eames House, 1951.