As a young person - or to put it better a young reader, I devoured Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld series. I loved loved those books. I can remember very well the day I got word that my inter library loan came through from Ohio to my local library of the final book in the series. Very visceral visual writing. I am really not a science fiction buff but the books that Philip Jose Farmer wrote are beyond genre they are just great great books. Rest in peace brother.
Philip Jose Farmer 1918-2009
Philip Jose Farmer, 1918-2009: Acclaimed science fiction writer inspired Robert Heinlein, others
Longtime Peoria resident wrote more than 75 novels, was known for dealing frankly with sexual matters in his work
Associated Press
February 27, 2009
Associated Press
PEORIA — Philip Jose Farmer, one of the most celebrated science fiction, fantasy and short story writers of the 1960s and '70s, died Wednesday. He was 91.
Mr. Farmer died "peacefully" in his sleep, according to a message posted on his official Web site.
The longtime Peoria resident wrote more than 75 novels, including the Riverworld and World of Tiers series. He won the Hugo Award three times and the Grand Master Award for Science Fiction in 2001.
Mr. Farmer was "one of the great ones," according to a statement on the Web site of Subterranean Press, which published his later novels.
"He was always a joy to work with, and we will dearly miss his intelligence and good nature," the statement said.
Mr. Farmer's first published story, "The Lovers," caught the attention of the science fiction world in 1952 with one of the genre's first serious treatments of sexuality. At the time, he was working full time at a Peoria steel mill and writing on the side.
"The Lovers" was based on a love affair between an Earth man and an alien woman, and Mr. Farmer rocked the science fiction community by dealing frankly with sex. The story inspired some of the greatest science fiction writers, including Robert Heinlein, whose classic "Stranger in a Strange Land" was dedicated to Mr. Farmer.
Mr. Farmer tried to survive as a full-time freelance writer, but finances forced him back to work as a technical writer in the defense industry in 1956. He bounced from New York to Arizona and California before finally moving back to Illinois in 1969 to concentrate all his energies on his science fiction writing.
Mr. Farmer's celebrity in the science fiction world did not translate to Peoria, where he grew up and attended college.
"I am obscure in Peoria," he said in 1988. "I guess they don't read much around here."
Mr. Farmer's last novel, "The City Beyond Play," was published in 2007.
He is survived by his wife, Bette, a son and a daughter, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Is an Oscar Overdue for Kate Winslet?
congrats to kate winslet! the part with her and marion together (my two favorites and 2008 / 2009 best actresses) so lovely last night.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Meg Baird
the video above is meg baird covering 'all i ever wanted' by new riders of the purple sage'. join me wednesday night february 18th to see her sing as well two screenings. info follows:
Melody, Melody and Meg
Please join me at the ICA at 6:30 for a screening of Jean Christophe Averty's Melody from 1971 starring Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. Then at 7 pm there will be a gallery talk with me and Kate Kraczon. Then at 8 pm we will walk about two blocks over to the International House for Waris Hussein's Melody also from 1971 starring Jack Wild, Mark Lester, and introducing Tracy Hyde. We will end the night with a set of wonderful music by Meg Baird who will be backed up by a band comprised of Kurt Vile, Steve Gunn, Jesse Trbovich, Chris Smith, and Chris Wilson. hope to see you there it is gonna be great!
Institute of Contemporary Art | University of Pennsylvania
118 S. 36th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 | 215 898-7108
http://www.icaphila.org/exhibitions/campuzano.php
international house
Tel: 215-387-5125 • Fax: 215-895-6535
3701 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104, USA
http://www.ihousephilly.org/soundonscreenwinter09.htm
Friday, February 13, 2009
Monday, February 09, 2009
great article by jane birkin
What I know about men
Jane Birkin actress and singer, 62, three daughters
Eva Wiseman
Sunday February 8 2009
The Observer
My father was my hero, which was easy because he was a hero anyway. He worked for the French resistance and was a James Bond sort during the war. He worked with spies in complete secrecy, on beaches in the dead of night, in the dead of winter. He had TB and a patch on his eye, which made him seem unbelievably romantic. He used to take cocaine for his frontal sinus. Once, aged about 16, he went off on a fire escape with a nurse after a sinus operation, and when he came back he had a frightful temperature, but to avoid getting the nurse into trouble he allowed the surgeon to presume they'd left something in his head and cut him open again. And by accident they sliced all his optic nerves, which left him with double vision for the rest of his life. I would often read to him - PG Wodehouse. When he was ill, coughing blood, it made my love for him even stronger. No other men could live up to my pa, but Serge [Gainsbourg] managed to make him laugh. They used to take their sleeping pills at the same time. They were like two owls on Mandrax. In one silly Italian film I did, Serge played a rather unconvincing detective and my father played Villagers One, Two and Three. He was just divine. People envied me him.
As a child in London I always tried to pass for a boy, and I succeeded quite successfully, even as a 16-year-old. I even made it into my brother's prep school, by cutting off my hair with kitchen scissors. I knew when I turned into a girl I'd lose my brother Andrew's affection, so I made sure I ran as fast as him, and I was as good at Chinese burns as him, but I was always just his lieutenant. He used to look like Hamlet in a sports car.
Growing up I had posters of Yul Brynner and Cliff Richard on my wall, including one where Cliff wore a pair of little bathing trunks. I wasn't very daring. I remember first being excited by boys when I shared an apple with a lifeguard on a black- sand beach, but I first fell in love with my brother's best friend Sam. I was also crazy about a fellow who lived opposite my parents. I could only see his house in winter, when the trees were no longer blooming, and I'd do ballet poses with a parrot on my shoulder in the window to attract his attention. My mother twigged eventually and called me a tart. He followed me down to the embankment one day - he was about 40, and I was around 15 - and after that I'd go and visit him, and snog in the hallway.
I've sung in prisons where there are no men, only women, which does feel strange. I've sung to male prisoners, too, killers sometimes, who have wept like babies. I think I am loved as much by women as men, maybe because I have no bosoms, maybe I'm an ambiguous comfort. I have been loved by the three most attractive men in the world. John Barry was as close to Gustav Mahler as one can get. I couldn't believe, at 17, that he had chosen me. When I lost him I was devastated, but I was a disaster in bed. I must have been the last virgin in Chelsea. My men have been kindly. After John I fell in love with the divine Serge, who bought me a diamond the day before he died. He loved the things about me that nobody noticed. He said he used to draw girls like me, half girl, half boy. He was 20 years older, and taught me everything. And then there was Jacques [Doillon], a dashing Red Indian, who turned up and said he wanted me. To have him in my life, and also Serge, who wanted to be my daughter's second papa, who wrote me another 45 songs after our affair had ended, was wonderful. I realise I am an extremely lucky woman.
Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited 2009
Jane Birkin actress and singer, 62, three daughters
Eva Wiseman
Sunday February 8 2009
The Observer
My father was my hero, which was easy because he was a hero anyway. He worked for the French resistance and was a James Bond sort during the war. He worked with spies in complete secrecy, on beaches in the dead of night, in the dead of winter. He had TB and a patch on his eye, which made him seem unbelievably romantic. He used to take cocaine for his frontal sinus. Once, aged about 16, he went off on a fire escape with a nurse after a sinus operation, and when he came back he had a frightful temperature, but to avoid getting the nurse into trouble he allowed the surgeon to presume they'd left something in his head and cut him open again. And by accident they sliced all his optic nerves, which left him with double vision for the rest of his life. I would often read to him - PG Wodehouse. When he was ill, coughing blood, it made my love for him even stronger. No other men could live up to my pa, but Serge [Gainsbourg] managed to make him laugh. They used to take their sleeping pills at the same time. They were like two owls on Mandrax. In one silly Italian film I did, Serge played a rather unconvincing detective and my father played Villagers One, Two and Three. He was just divine. People envied me him.
As a child in London I always tried to pass for a boy, and I succeeded quite successfully, even as a 16-year-old. I even made it into my brother's prep school, by cutting off my hair with kitchen scissors. I knew when I turned into a girl I'd lose my brother Andrew's affection, so I made sure I ran as fast as him, and I was as good at Chinese burns as him, but I was always just his lieutenant. He used to look like Hamlet in a sports car.
Growing up I had posters of Yul Brynner and Cliff Richard on my wall, including one where Cliff wore a pair of little bathing trunks. I wasn't very daring. I remember first being excited by boys when I shared an apple with a lifeguard on a black- sand beach, but I first fell in love with my brother's best friend Sam. I was also crazy about a fellow who lived opposite my parents. I could only see his house in winter, when the trees were no longer blooming, and I'd do ballet poses with a parrot on my shoulder in the window to attract his attention. My mother twigged eventually and called me a tart. He followed me down to the embankment one day - he was about 40, and I was around 15 - and after that I'd go and visit him, and snog in the hallway.
I've sung in prisons where there are no men, only women, which does feel strange. I've sung to male prisoners, too, killers sometimes, who have wept like babies. I think I am loved as much by women as men, maybe because I have no bosoms, maybe I'm an ambiguous comfort. I have been loved by the three most attractive men in the world. John Barry was as close to Gustav Mahler as one can get. I couldn't believe, at 17, that he had chosen me. When I lost him I was devastated, but I was a disaster in bed. I must have been the last virgin in Chelsea. My men have been kindly. After John I fell in love with the divine Serge, who bought me a diamond the day before he died. He loved the things about me that nobody noticed. He said he used to draw girls like me, half girl, half boy. He was 20 years older, and taught me everything. And then there was Jacques [Doillon], a dashing Red Indian, who turned up and said he wanted me. To have him in my life, and also Serge, who wanted to be my daughter's second papa, who wrote me another 45 songs after our affair had ended, was wonderful. I realise I am an extremely lucky woman.
Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited 2009
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Christine McVie Rumours Interview 1976
best legs in london and one of the most beautiful women in the world talks about songbird and second news
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Buddy Holly on the Arthur Murray Dance Party 12/29/57
50 years gone today. we miss you buddy and your rock and roll expertise.
John lennon Sings Buddy Holly Tunes 1972 Yoko Ono
rock island line followed by buddy holly's maybe baby and peggy sue.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Sunday, February 01, 2009
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