Showing posts with label History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label History. Show all posts

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Works in the Genre of Social Caricature

 Paul Kaczynski (Pawel Kuczynski) was born in 1976 in Poland. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of Poznan. Works in the genre of social caricature.


























Saturday, March 12, 2011

World of Cheap Thrills


What's scarier than a haunted house?  TWO HAUNTED HOUSES!


Rose Byrne, Patrick Wilson and their three young children have just moved into a big, old home.  He's a teacher and she doesn't work, so immediately I assumed there was some deal with the devil to make the down payment, but this was just my mind playing tricks.  The young baby does nothing but cry and one night the eldest sees something, makes a spooky face, then goes to sleep and NEVER WAKES UP.

He's not in a coma, he's just. . .in limbo.  Rather than making the cover of the New England Journal of Medicine with this indescribable condition, they just send the kid home.  And then the craziness starts.
I can't lie, the first few scares got my heart rate up.  There are demonic sounds on the baby monitor and, even though I was thinking "here comes the scary part, here comes the scary part" when something finally jumped out, I yelped like a frightened puppy.
I can't recall seeing a movie that relied as heavily on loud, dissonant piano notes on the sound track as much as Insidious.  Director James Wan (the first Saw movie and follow-up garbage he'd rather you not remember) either doesn't trust us or doesn't have the chops to allow creative framing or tense perspective shots to deliver the scares.  Either way, I found I did most of my crying-out not because anything truly frightening was happening on screen, but because something REALLY LOUD JUST CRASHED IN MY EAR.
I certainly wasn't involved in the plot in any way, which is a shame, because I think a comotose, house-bound child is fertile soil from which a genuine horror film can grow.  After Byrne sees enough weird visions she gets the family to relocate.  The scares keep coming in house two, making us all wonder what the hell kind of realtor they're using.
There's a twist, of course, and a too-late attempt at humor in the form of some goofy ghost hunters.  Once the "truth" is revealed, however, only the audience members willing to suspend their disbelief to the point they could wrap it around the circumference of Jupiter will keep from checking out.
So this is what's in store for you in Insidious: a real moronic supernatural horror film that exploitatively uses startling tactics to get in four or five decent jump scares.  If you are a high school kid on a date, go see Insidious.  If not, go take a run or finish that Dostoyevsky novel you keep putting off.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Photos of Pearl Harbor Attack Dec.7,1941

USS Shaw explodes after being hit by bombs

The USS Shaw explodes after being hit by bombs during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in this Dec. 7, 1941 photo

Battleship USS Arizona belches

In this Dec. 7, 1941 file photo, the battleship USS Arizona belches smoke as it topples over into the sea during a Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

American ships burn during Japanese attack

In this Dec. 7, 1941 file photo, American ships burn during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Japanese bomber on run

A Japanese bomber on a run over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii is shown during the surprise attack of Dec. 7, 1941. Black smoke rises from American ships in the harbor. Below is a U.S. Army air field

Sailors stand as they watch explosion

Sailors stand among wrecked airplanes at Ford Island Naval Air Station as they watch the explosion of the USS Shaw in the background, during the Japanese surprise attack in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941.

Investigating explosion and seeing smoke pall

Officers' wives, investigating explosion and seeing smoke pall in distance on Dec. 7, 1941, heard neighbor Mary Naiden, then an Army hostess who took this picture, exclaim 'There are red circles on those planes overhead. They are Japanese!' Realizing war had come, the two women, stunned, start toward quarters.

FILE- USS California, after being struck

This Dec. 7, 1941 file photo provided by the Dept. of Defense shows the USS California, right, after being struck by two battleships and two big bombs during a Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Durrell Conner, who coded and decoded messages for the Navy, was aboard the USS California when it sank in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Conner will return with 17 family members to remember those who died in the Japanese attack 69 years ago during the Pearl Harbor Anniversary.

Smoke clouds sky as two sailors crouch

Smoke clouds the sky over Pearl Harbor as two sailors crouch with their rifles on a pier at the submarine base, trying desperately to locate an enemy to fire upon, Dec. 7, 1941. Submarines berthed nearby are USS Tautog and USS Narwhal

Students of Lunalilo High School

In this Dec. 7, 1941, file photo, students of the Lunalilo High School in the Waikiki district of Honolulu watch their school burn after the roof of the main building, at center, was hit by a bomb during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Infamous attack on Pearl Harbor

The infamous attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The USS Arizona is pictured in flames after the Japanese attack.

Photograph, from Japanese film later captured

This photograph, from a Japanese film later captured by American forces, is taken aboard the Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku, just as a Nakajima 'Kate' B-5N bomber is launching off deck for the second wave of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.

Battleship USS West Virginia begins

Torpedoed and bombed by the Japanese, the battleship USS West Virginia begins to sink after suffering heavy damage, center, while the USS Maryland, left, is still afloat in Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii, in a Dec. 7, 1941 file photo.

Wing of Japanese bomber shot down on grounds

The wing of a Japanese bomber shot down on the grounds of the Naval Hospital at Honolulu, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941

Stationed on Hawaiian island

Heavy damage is seen on the battleships U.S.S. Casin and the U.S.S. Downes, stationed at Pearl Harbor after the Japanese attack on the Hawaiian island, Dec. 7, 1941.

Small crowd inspects damage

A small crowd inspects the damage, both inside and outside, after a Japanese bomb hit the residence of Paul Goo during the raid on Honolulu Dec. 7, 1941.

Mass lay after city had been attacked

A mass of twisted metal wreckage lay along a Honolulu street after the city had been attacked by Japanese planes Dec. 7, 1941.

Smoke still fogged air at Pearl harbor

Smoke still fogged the air at Pearl harbor, Dec. 7, 1941 as these tractors tugged at what the Navy said was a Japanese two-man submarine, not shown, pulling it up on the beach for inspection after it was disabled in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Shattered wreckage of American planes bombed

The shattered wreckage of American planes bombed by the Japanese in their attack on Pearl Harbor is strewn on Hickam Field, Dec. 7, 1941.

Black smoke rises after they had been bombed

Black smoke rises from the burning wrecks of several U.S. Navy battleships after they had been bombed during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941

Photos of Pearl Harbor Attack Dec.7,1941

USS Shaw explodes after being hit by bombs

The USS Shaw explodes after being hit by bombs during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in this Dec. 7, 1941 photo

Battleship USS Arizona belches

In this Dec. 7, 1941 file photo, the battleship USS Arizona belches smoke as it topples over into the sea during a Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

American ships burn during Japanese attack

In this Dec. 7, 1941 file photo, American ships burn during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Japanese bomber on run

A Japanese bomber on a run over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii is shown during the surprise attack of Dec. 7, 1941. Black smoke rises from American ships in the harbor. Below is a U.S. Army air field

Sailors stand as they watch explosion

Sailors stand among wrecked airplanes at Ford Island Naval Air Station as they watch the explosion of the USS Shaw in the background, during the Japanese surprise attack in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941.

Investigating explosion and seeing smoke pall

Officers' wives, investigating explosion and seeing smoke pall in distance on Dec. 7, 1941, heard neighbor Mary Naiden, then an Army hostess who took this picture, exclaim 'There are red circles on those planes overhead. They are Japanese!' Realizing war had come, the two women, stunned, start toward quarters.

FILE- USS California, after being struck

This Dec. 7, 1941 file photo provided by the Dept. of Defense shows the USS California, right, after being struck by two battleships and two big bombs during a Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Durrell Conner, who coded and decoded messages for the Navy, was aboard the USS California when it sank in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Conner will return with 17 family members to remember those who died in the Japanese attack 69 years ago during the Pearl Harbor Anniversary.

Smoke clouds sky as two sailors crouch

Smoke clouds the sky over Pearl Harbor as two sailors crouch with their rifles on a pier at the submarine base, trying desperately to locate an enemy to fire upon, Dec. 7, 1941. Submarines berthed nearby are USS Tautog and USS Narwhal

Students of Lunalilo High School

In this Dec. 7, 1941, file photo, students of the Lunalilo High School in the Waikiki district of Honolulu watch their school burn after the roof of the main building, at center, was hit by a bomb during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Infamous attack on Pearl Harbor

The infamous attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The USS Arizona is pictured in flames after the Japanese attack.

Photograph, from Japanese film later captured

This photograph, from a Japanese film later captured by American forces, is taken aboard the Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku, just as a Nakajima 'Kate' B-5N bomber is launching off deck for the second wave of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.

Battleship USS West Virginia begins

Torpedoed and bombed by the Japanese, the battleship USS West Virginia begins to sink after suffering heavy damage, center, while the USS Maryland, left, is still afloat in Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii, in a Dec. 7, 1941 file photo.

Wing of Japanese bomber shot down on grounds

The wing of a Japanese bomber shot down on the grounds of the Naval Hospital at Honolulu, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941

Stationed on Hawaiian island

Heavy damage is seen on the battleships U.S.S. Casin and the U.S.S. Downes, stationed at Pearl Harbor after the Japanese attack on the Hawaiian island, Dec. 7, 1941.

Small crowd inspects damage

A small crowd inspects the damage, both inside and outside, after a Japanese bomb hit the residence of Paul Goo during the raid on Honolulu Dec. 7, 1941.

Mass lay after city had been attacked

A mass of twisted metal wreckage lay along a Honolulu street after the city had been attacked by Japanese planes Dec. 7, 1941.

Smoke still fogged air at Pearl harbor

Smoke still fogged the air at Pearl harbor, Dec. 7, 1941 as these tractors tugged at what the Navy said was a Japanese two-man submarine, not shown, pulling it up on the beach for inspection after it was disabled in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Shattered wreckage of American planes bombed

The shattered wreckage of American planes bombed by the Japanese in their attack on Pearl Harbor is strewn on Hickam Field, Dec. 7, 1941.

Black smoke rises after they had been bombed

Black smoke rises from the burning wrecks of several U.S. Navy battleships after they had been bombed during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941
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