What are you reading now - and then

[sukumvit boy]

http://www.amazon.com/Mutants-Geneti.../dp/0142004820
Given that the current estimate is that 1 in 200 live births carry chromosomal abnormalities and that most abnormalities involve the sex chromosomes I think that this is a book many here would find interesting.

Well written and accessible to the non scientist and includes some fascinating photos and illustrations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_chromosome_disorders
http://www.who.int/genomics/gender/en/index1.html

[sukumvit boy]

You ever read any Jim Thompson? The Killer Inside Me, Population 1280, The Grifters, The Getaway. If you like hard boiled, the guy is excellent. Even darker and more twisted than Ellroy...but very difficult to like one but not the other.

Thompson also helped Kubrick write screenplays of Paths of Glory and The Killings...but Kubrick only gave him credit for writing "dialogue" for the Killings which was surely unfair but that's a longer story.

Shout out to broncofan , rereading Jim Thompson's "The Grifters" great stuff! I loved the movie too.

[sukumvit boy]

Any film fan interested in the careers of legendary directors Werner Hertzog and Roman Polanski , actors Klaus and Natassja Kinski and even their connection to Sharon Tate and the Charles Manson Murders will find this to be an important addition to their reading.
Basically , Klaus Kinski , Natassja's father ,was a text book Sadistic Sociopath


https://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Beast-...=1&*entries*=0

[Stavros]

Any film fan interested in the careers of legendary directors Werner Hertzog and Roman Polanski , actors Klaus and Natassja Kinski and even their connection to Sharon Tate and the Charles Manson Murders will find this to be an important addition to their reading.
Basically , Klaus Kinski , Natassja's father ,was a text book Sadistic Sociopath

There is an account of Kinski's early years in Berlin in a special feature on one of Herzog's DVD's, I can't recall which one right now. Herzog revisits the apartment they shared, and gives an account of the crazy things that used to happen -bearing in mind that Herzog is a bit of a nutter too. I have often wondered what it means to be a 'hell raiser' when that term is used of film stars, and it seems to me to mean they shout when they could speak, get drunk as often as they can, and assault women, or for that matter anyone who gets in their way. You might have heard the claim made by the actor Errol Flynn (or made by someone else about him) that when erect, his cock was so big he could put it through the handles of three beer mugs and hold them up with room to spare...why anyone would want to see it I don't know. A short book that might be worth tracking down, thanks for the reference.

[dc_guy_75]

I hate followers of Islam, and oddly, I would be considered "left wing" in context of American politics.

Alas, my hatred of Islam only continues to grow.

[Stavros]

I hate followers of Islam, and oddly, I would be considered "left wing" in context of American politics.

Alas, my hatred of Islam only continues to grow.

Perhaps I could recommend The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad (edited by Jonathan E. Brockopp, Cambridge University Press, 2010). 14 chapters that explore various aspects of Muhammad's life and the way in which his recitations and other aspects of his life and work have shaped Islam, for better or worse.

[sukumvit boy]

There is an account of Kinski's early years in Berlin in a special feature on one of Herzog's DVD's, I can't recall which one right now. Herzog revisits the apartment they shared, and gives an account of the crazy things that used to happen -bearing in mind that Herzog is a bit of a nutter too. I have often wondered what it means to be a 'hell raiser' when that term is used of film stars, and it seems to me to mean they shout when they could speak, get drunk as often as they can, and assault women, or for that matter anyone who gets in their way. You might have heard the claim made by the actor Errol Flynn (or made by someone else about him) that when erect, his cock was so big he could put it through the handles of three beer mugs and hold them up with room to spare...why anyone would want to see it I don't know. A short book that might be worth tracking down, thanks for the reference.

Thanks , Stavros , for your insightful and interesting comments .
Funny story about Errol Flynn , I hadn't heard that one before . I remember a few stories about legendary Hollywood members ,like Milton Berle's , from Kenneth Anger's "Hollywood Babylon".
But I now see that Flynn is in most Hollywood 'Top Ten' lists.
http://forum.rottentomatoes.com/topic/show/549804
https://www.lpsg.com/threads/errol-flynn.108653/
With regard to the clip about Hertzog reminiscing about his relationship with Kinski it sounds like a reference to Hertzog's 1999 film "My Best Fiend". Kinski died in 1991 . You may have seen one of the excellent "Criterion Collection" dvd's which are loaded with such Extras. The earlier Hertzog / Kinski collaboration surrounding the making of "Fritzcarraldo" 1982 , which almost killed them both , is covered in the excellent 1982
film directed by Les Blank "Burden of Dreams".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Best_Fiend

[Stavros]

A couple of supplementary notes -
-I have My Best Friend in one of the two box sets of Herzog films (with the Kinski films) and a quick viewing just now means I must correct my earlier comment, as after the intro it starts in the place in Munich, not Berlin, where Herzog first met Kinski. At one time I even thought I saw it on a Michael Haneke video which is how the memory plays tricks with reality.

-The box sets of Herzog were marketed in the UK by Anchor Bay, and I bought them at a fairly cheap price whereas the British Film Institute has a set which is three times as expensive, but I don't know if it has substantial extras.

-Criterion did not market DVDs in Region 2 where I live until April this year when they began releasing the 'Criterion Collection' on Blu-Ray the first films being Speedy, It Happened One Night, Grey Gardens, Macbeth, and Tootsie. Criterion have a high reputation in the UK amongst nerds, particularly in the case of Tarkovsky as their editions of his films are considered superior to Artificial Eye who market them in the UK. Artificial Eye dominate the UK market on (mostly European) 'Art films' and are resistant to customer service. I emailed them with several queries about the running times of the films of Greek director Theodor Angelopoulos after buying all three box sets of his films, and was told someone else would reply to my queries -that was three years ago and I am still waiting...

-I would caution against Kenneth Anger on all fronts, both as a shameless gossip queen about Hollywood -just can't be relied on to tell the truth- but mostly because of his desperately awful films. In the 1970s when films were censored here or just refused a licence, you had to join a 'private film club' (in fact anyone could join for a fee, in effect a quarter or 25 pence) to see them. Anger's films were denied licences, and joining a club to see Invocation of my Demon Brother, Scorpio Rising and Kustom Kar Kommandos, all in terrible prints (like the originals!) turned out to be worth less than the experience. Sometimes using the term 'underground film' is a way of elevating self-indulgent nonsense to the status of 'art', but that is a whole other story.

-Lastly you might be aware that Clark Gable was famous for having bad breath, and long before Warren Beatty was said to have the biggest cock in Hollywood, that accolade (if that is what it is) belonged to Gary Cooper, who certainly used it to thread his way through as many willing women as he could find -other than his wife- of which there were rather a lot in Hollywood. There was even a web-site in the early days of the internet that had photos of male stars without their boxers, including two hilarious shots of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. One wonders if the smaller it is, the greater the need to be an 'action hero'...?

[sukumvit boy]

LOL , good stuff , thanks.
Very interesting about the differences in film marketing and availability over the decades in the UK vs the US , as well as the censorship and region code differences which I was not aware of. I've never seen Artificial Eye over here , but Anchor Bay and Criterion have been around forever.
Yes , Anger is the worse kind of hack.
I must look into the work of Theodor Angelopoulos , "The Beekeeper " and "Landscape in the Mist" sound familiar but I can't recall them at this moment . Thanks .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_Angelopoulos

[sukumvit boy]

And back to books...
Recently finished reading the excellent and authoritative Alan Turing biography by Andrew Hedges. This is ,without a doubt, the definitive Turing biography.
A pleasure to read , full of fascinating details not only about Turing's life and career but also life in pre and post war Britain ,the public school system and the history of mathematics.
http://www.amazon.com/Alan-Turing-En.../dp/069116472X
I hadn't read Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" since school days but in adult life I kept on running into references to it's influence on so many fronts , such as the character Kurtz in "Apocalypse Now ", British Colonialism and the history of the Congo .
So I decided I should read it again. I than I discovered this outstanding Norton Critical Edition loaded with backgrounds and contexts such as : "Imperialism and the Congo" and "Nineteenth Century Attitudes Toward Race" .
Funny thing is the story itself is only 75 pages long . A fine piece of writing . It was the 'mega blockbuster " bestseller of it's day .

http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Darkness..._d_product_top