Constant Escapism: The Top Films of Stan

[Clinamenic]

It feeds right into a framework of mythic extropy, as a sort of poetic appropriation of physics.

 

[Clinamenic]

Joan was a' quizzical,
studied pataphysical
science in the home.

 

[Clinamenic]

Nothing to do with test tubes though, but hey what should we expect?

 

[IdleRich]

probably despised by some Dissensus members, Balkan quirky

I had a feeling that you might have a soft spot for the guy... not necessarily for his films but for quotes like this one

"Emir Kusturica hates English football and you feel it."

Then again he mentions the great Liverpool player George Best so I'm gonna assume he knows as much about football as he does about making non-annoying films that don't feature his stupid band


Definitely prefer the music in Parajanov's films... and the films as a whole of course. I like The Legend of Suram Fortress which has more of a narrative than Colour of Pomegranates and the same mind expanding imagery.

 

[Clinamenic]

are you aware of the Oulipian use of the term clinamen, stan?

Clinamen. Lucretius' Latin for the Greek klesis, "a bending".
Empedocles (c.490-430 B.C.) uses the term to designate the spontaneous deviation that allows atoms falling in otherwise parallel lines to encounter one another and thus create matter; Lucretius extended the meaning of the word to include free choice. For Oulipians, the clinamen is a deviation from the strict consequences of a restriction. It is often justified on aesthetic grounds: resorting to it improves the results. But there is a binding condition for its use: the exceptional freedom afforded by a clinamen can only be taken on the condition that following the initial rule is still possible. In other words, the clinamen can only be used if it isn't needed.
[...] The clinamen was brought to the attention of Pataphysicians and Oulipians alike through the agency of Alfred Jarry, who rescued this obscure principle of classical philosophy and made it a central tenet of his "science of exceptions", 'Pataphysics.

Actually I just learned the basics about Bose-Einstein Condensates, formally considered as a fifth state of matter, which conspicuously evoke the concept of clinamen. Atoms at absolute zero, in a sort of phenomenal lockstep, behaving not a collection if discrete units but a continuous fabric.

 

[Clinamenic]

Hypothetically, if something like this was a sort of initial state of the universe, which a change in energy would disrupt and cause the particles to collide and introduce material difference.

 

[Clinamenic]

Holy Motors is another film I recently saw for the first time, and admired.

 

[IdleRich]

I would say Edgar Wright qualifies as quirky, especially in technique. I've been meaning to rewatch some of his.

His ones with Simon Pegg are really just straight forward comedies though aren't they? You could say that Baby Driver is quirky but it's also rubbish. In fact let's be honest loads of these things are fucking rubbish.
Above I mentioned An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn and I said it was "the acme" of these things, just to be clear, that wasn't intended to mean that it's the best, simply that it stuffs in the most of the tropes - cliches probably - of these films. It's the quirkiest of the quirky, but I am not at all recommending that anyone should watch it.
Wes Anderson as mentioned above was a director I always hated with an enormous passion. But over the years I have come to agree with what @boxedjoy said in another thread about how hatred of songs that you can simply turn off and forget about tends to be performative... and same for films, so I made a decision to stop getting wound up by WA and have watched a few of his films now without even getting annoyed. In fact his new one I may even seek out.

 

[Leo]

Cispontine: on this side of the bridge.

Transpontine: on that side of the bridge.

why not just say "this side of the bridge"/"that side of the bridge"?

 

[Clinamenic]

I was using those terms to illustrate the dichotomy, but yes I think we'll find them of little use when communicating directions.

 

[Clinamenic]

His ones with Simon Pegg are really just straight forward comedies though aren't they? You could say that Baby Driver is quirky but it's also rubbish. In fact let's be honest loads of these things are fucking rubbish.
Above I mentioned An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn and I said it was "the acme" of these things, just to be clear, that wasn't intended to mean that it's the best, simply that it stuffs in the most of the tropes - cliches probably - of these films. It's the quirkiest of the quirky, but I am not at all recommending that anyone should watch it.
Wes Anderson as mentioned above was a director I always hated with an enormous passion. But over the years I have come to agree with what @boxedjoy said in another thread about how hatred of songs that you can simply turn off and forget about tends to be performative... and same for films, so I made a decision to stop getting wound up by WA and have watched a few of his films now without even getting annoyed. In fact his new one I may even seek out.

Fair enough, I could be conflating idiosyncrasy with quirkiness, but I wouldn't call Wright's comedies straightforward. Scott Pilgrim is definitely quirky, as is Baby Driver in a more chic way.

Hot Fuzz strikes me as quirky, as does Shaun of the Dead. Even those titles strike me as quirky.

 

[Leo]

although we could have a "Good Pontines" thread.

 

[Clinamenic]

Perhaps if you analyzed any formulas under their structure, we could call them straight forward to some extent. But I think their tone/humor is unique and quirky.

 

[Clinamenic]

although we could have a "Good Pontines" thread.

subpontine: under the bridge, presumably afloat

parapontine: next to the bridge, presumably afloat

metapontine: viewing/inhabiting the bridge from a higher dimension

 

[Leo]

too often, quirky translates to "trying to be funny but not actually funny".

maybe it's just a matter of how prevalent it is. I don't mind listening to a quirky band once in a while, but couldn't listen to a day of quirky bands. like sweets: potentially ok in moderation.

 

[Clinamenic]

contrapontine: pertaining to the movement of a boat or water vessel.

 

[Clinamenic]

too often, quirky translates to "trying to be funny but not actually funny".

maybe it's just a matter of how prevalent it is. I don't mind listening to a quirky band once in a while, but couldn't listen to a day of quirky bands. like sweets: potentially ok in moderation.

21 Pilots, I think is their band name, would be a quirky band that may or may not strike one as affected or contrivedly quirky. But yeah I think there is a niche temptation to pull quirky off.

 

[Clinamenic]

Apontine: pertaining to a river in want of a bridge

Dyspontine: pertaining to a bridge in want of repair

 

[Clinamenic]

Patapontine: everywhere in relation to the bridge except those places that come to mind.

 

[Leo]

not to be confused with poutine