20 June 2011

Pride of Procrustes

There is this beautiful word called Procrustean |prəˈkrəstēən; prō-| adjective(esp. of a framework or system) enforcing uniformity or conformity without regard to natural variation or individuality : a fixed Procrustean rule.

Here is an excerpt of Justice for Hedgehodges by Ronald Dworkin:

Hence the word: Procrustean
This came to me via Chelsea via Chris (via Dworkin?)

19 June 2011

06 June 2011

A personal journey with Martin Scorsese

    For an assignment at university, I decided to reflect on Harvey Weinstein and his impact on independent film.  While reading an article in the New Yorker Magazine, I came across this quote from Harvey who talked about his experience of working with Scorsese during "Gangs of New York".

    Weinstein tries to bring an auteur's knowledge to his work--and this, he says, is something people don't know about him. "I am a perpetual student," he said. "And I can tell you that the most enriching thing that happened to me with Marty Scorsese is that, when making 'Gangs of New York,' Marty would give me a movie to watch every Saturday night, a movie that influenced him in the making of the movie. So over three years I saw eighty films that Scorsese gave me. I wanted to call it 'Saturday Nights with Marty,' because I would see David Lean, 'Oliver Twist,' from his own library. Here I am, twenty-two years, whatever, into the business, and I am learning more than I ever learned on any movie, from Marty." This is Harvey the cineaste, and he insists that it distinguishes him from his Hollywood peers. "If you asked people in the industry, 'Name me five Francois Truffaut movies,' I don't think ninety per cent of them could even tell you," he said. "Nor do they care. Which also bothers me. I see myself as an outsider."


    Here are the films that Scorsese reflects on in his documentary: "A personal journey with Martin Scorsese through American movies":
    • The Great Train Robbery (1903)
    • The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912)
    • Death’s Marathon (1913)
    • Cabiria (1914)
    • The Birth of a Nation (1915)
    • Regeneration (1915)
    • Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)
    • Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl (1919)
    • The Ten Commandments (1923)
    • 7th Heaven (1927)
    • Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
    • The Crowd (1928)
    • The Cameraman (1928)
    • The Wedding March (1928)
    • Anna Christie (1930)
    • The Big House (1930)
    • Her Man (1930)
    • The Public Enemy (1931)
    • Scarface (1932)
    • Hell’s Highway (1932)
    • 42nd Street (1933)
    • Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
    • Wild Boys of the Road (1933)
    • Footlight Parade (1933)
    • The Scarlet Empress (1934)
    • Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
    • Stagecoach (1939)
    • Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
    • The Roaring Twenties (1939)
    • The Great Dictator (1940)
    • High Sierra (1941)
    • Citizen Kane (1941)
    • Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
    • The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
    • Cat People (1942)
    • Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
    • I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
    • Double Indemnity (1944)
    • Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
    • Detour (1945)
    • Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
    • Scarlet Street (1945)
    • Duel in the Sun (1946)
    • The Red House (1947)
    • T-Men (1947)
    • I Walk Alone (1948)
    • Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)
    • Raw Deal (1948)
    • Force of Evil (1948)
    • My Dream Is Yours (1949)
    • Colorado Territory (1949)
    • It’s a Great Feeling (1949)
    • She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
    • Samson and Delilah (1949)
    • Deadly Is the Female (1950)
    • The Furies (1950)
    • Outrage (1950/I)
    • A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
    • The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
    • The Naked Spur (1953)
    • Pickup on South Street (1953)
    • The Band Wagon (1953)
    • The Robe (1953)
    • Crime Wave (1954)
    • Johnny Guitar (1954)
    • On the Waterfront (1954)
    • Silver Lode (1954)
    • A Star Is Born (1954)
    • East of Eden (1955)
    • Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
    • Land of the Pharaohs (1955)
    • The Phoenix City Story (1955)
    • All That Heaven Allows (1955)
    • The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
    • The Searchers (1956)
    • Bigger Than Life (1956)
    • The Ten Commandments (1956)
    • The Tall T (1957)
    • Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
    • Forty Guns (1957)
    • The Left Handed Gun (1958)
    • Murder by Contract (1958)
    • Some Came Running (1958)
    • One, Two, Three (1961)
    • Advise & Consent (1962)
    • Lolita (1962)
    • Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)
    • Shock Corridor (1963)
    • America, America (1963)
    • The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
    • The Naked Kiss (1964)
    • Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
    • Point Blank (1967)
    • 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
    • Faces (1968)
    • Directed by John Ford (1971)
    • The Godfather (1972)
    • Barry Lyndon (1975)
    • All That Jazz (1979)
    • Unforgiven (1992)