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Interior Lulu
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Radiation - Interior Lulu
Introduction:
From the notes on www.marillion.com:
Steve Hogarth wrote the complicated lyric,
which introduces us to a 'funny little girl' who can't quite carry-off her
bohemian pretentions. The focus moves to Hogarth himself, and his
realisation and guilt that by writing from personal experience, you empower
your work only to cheapen the memory or the emotion which inspired it.
"One day, you'll have
exhausted everything that you are. Everything that was ever precious to you
will have gone, to be redefined in verse 2 of some song or other, and then
what are you gonna do, when you run out of life to write about?"
The song ends with Steve standing on Primrose Hill,
staring down and over London, pondering empty conversation 'What a waste of
lips,' and the observation that we now spend our lives staring into screens
- computers, TV's, car windows. 'What a waste of eyes'.
'Louise Brooks'
Mark Kelly located the following site,
http://www.pandorasbox.com/ from which the following short biography was
adapted.
Louise Brooks: Life & Times
"Louise Brooks is a
20th century icon. Her hair is her trademark. Her distinct Dutch bob
framed a face of astonishing beauty. Fair skinned and freckled, Brooks
appeared on film as something almost luminous. Her sleek black hair - the
famous 'black helmet' - defined a face both inviting and enigmatic. Hers
was a 'face that the camera loved.'
"Ironically, Louise
Brooks is perhaps least remembered for what she was - a gifted actress.
Between 1925 and 1938, she appeared in 24 films. Early on, she worked with
directors Malcom St. Clair, Eddie Sutherland, William Wellman and Howard
Hawks in films such as It's the Old Army Game (with W.C. Fields, 1926),
The Show-off (with Ford Sterling & Lois Wilson, 1926), Love Em & Leave Em
(with Evelyn Brent, 1926), Beggars of Life (with Wallace Beery & Richard
Arlen, 1928), A Girl in Every Port (with Victor McLaglen, 1928), and The
Canary Murder Case (with William Powell & Jean Arthur, 1929).
"Brooks'
accomplishments did not go unheralded. During the late 1920's, the
one-time Denishawn dancer and Ziegfeld girl inspired both the long running
comic strip 'Dixie Dugan', as well as the stage play 'Show Girl'. In 1927,
according to biographer Barry Paris, Louise Brooks was the fourth most
written about actress (in terms of major magazine articles) after Clara
Bow, Joan Crawford and Colleen Moore.
"Brooks' career in
Hollywood is overshadowed by what is certainly her best-known role, as
'Lulu' in the classic German film, Pandora's Box (1929). Under the
direction of G. W. Pabst, Brooks' subtle, erotically charged style of
acting emerged. Upon its release, Pandora's Box largely failed in Germany
and was barely reviewed in the United States. Brooks' style was so natural
that critics complained she either couldn't or didn't act. Today,
Pandora's Box is considered a landmark of the silent cinema.
"Brooks made two
other films in Europe - Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), again with Pabst, and
Prix de Beaute (1930), an early French sound film (based on a story by
Pabst & Rene Clair). With the promise of work in Europe, Brooks had quit
Paramount in an act of defiance. Upon her return to the United States, she
found herself relegated to supporting roles in B-grade films. Her keen
intelligence, rebellious nature and self-destructive streak all
contributed to her exile from Hollywood - and what might have been one of
the great careers in film history. Brooks' last movie was Overland Stage
Raiders (1938), a western serial with John Wayne.
"After years of
obscurity and near poverty, a new Louise Brooks began to emerge - that of
author. Throughout the 50's, 60's and '70's, her thoughtful essays
appeared in magazines like Sight and Sound, Film Culture, and Focus on
Film. Once derided as a brainy show-girl, Brooks' second career as an
insightful writer took shape. In 1982, a bestselling and widely reviewed
collection of her work appeared under the title Lulu in Hollywood.
"In the years since
her death, numerous cinematic, literary, musical, cartoon and dramatic
homage have been paid the actress. Brooks' reputation has come full
circle. A woman of remarkable endurance, Louise Brooks has become a magnet
of meaning - a 20th century icon. "
Max Rael added some
more details on Pandora's Box, the film in which Brooks plays Lulu:
"One of Louise Brooks' most famous rolls was
that of Lulu in the 1929 film Pandora's Box charting the fall of a
young woman possessed with a fatal combination of overpowering sexuality and
complete innocence. Playwright Frank Wedekind described his most famous
character this way: "Lulu is not a real
character but the personification of primitive sexuality who inspires evil
unaware. She plays a purely passive role."
The IMDB says:
"Lulu, the protagonist of Pandora's box
portrayed by Louise Brooks, lives beyond the constraints of time. She was
radiant, outrageous - an icon of modernity that seemed to transcend all time
and place. She challenged sexual conventions, and became a screen seductress
like no other - not through the traditional devices of the femme fatale, but
rather through her bold, kittenish innocence.
"This
portrayal of innocence is largely what makes her performance both powerful
and unique. She's outrageously excessive and provocative, but because she
engenders such sympathy, we cannot fail to identify with her. In a sense,
she seduces us as she seduces the men whom she encounters. That
identification, despite her destructiveness, is much of what makes this film
so compelling; we love her despite ourselves."
'C.S. Lewis'
From:
http://members.aol.com/JAMIETAMPA/Lewis/index2.html:
"LEWIS,
C.S. (1898-1963). The death of C.S. Lewis on Nov. 22, 1963, was not much
noticed at the time, because it occurred on the same day as the
assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy. Yet for three
decades Lewis had been one of the most widely read authors on Christian
teaching in the Western world.
"Clive
Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland, on Nov. 29, 1898. He was
educated by private tutor and then at Malvern College in England for a
year before attending University College, Oxford, in 1916. His education
was interrupted by service in World War I. In 1918 he returned to Oxford
where he did outstanding work as a classical scholar. He taught at
Magdalen College, Oxford, from 1925 to 1954, and from 1954 until his death
in Oxford he was professor of medieval and Renaissance English at
Cambridge University in Cambridge. He was highly respected in his field of
study, both as a teacher and writer. His book 'The Allegory of Love: a
Study in Medieval Tradition', published in 1936, is considered by many to
be his best work.
"It was
as an apologist for Christianity that Lewis gained his greatest audience.
In his attempt to formulate a core of Christian understanding, Lewis wrote
a number of highly readable books--intelligent, imaginative, and often
witty. Among these were: 'The Pilgrim's Regress', published in 1933, 'The
Problem of Pain' (1940), 'Miracles' (1947), and 'The Screwtape Letters'
(1942), probably his most popular work. He also wrote a trilogy of
religious science fiction novels: 'Out of the Silent Planet' (1938), 'Perelandra'
(1943), and 'That Hideous Strength' (1945). For children he wrote a series
of seven allegorical tales, beginning with 'The Lion, the Witch, and the
Wardrobe' in 1950. His autobiography, 'Surprised by Joy', was published in
1955."
Excerpted from The Complete
Reference Collection, The Learning Company, Inc.
'Henry and Anais'
Erotic writer Anais Nin is quoted in Rich. From
http://www.generationterrorists.com/bio/nin.html:
Anais Nin
"(1903
- 1977) Writer; born in Paris, France. Child of a Spanish father and
French-Danish mother, she and her mother moved to New York City (1914)
where she attended Catholic schools. She left school when 16, worked as a
model, studied dance, and returned to Europe (1923). (In 1923 she married
a New York banker, Hugh Guiler; although he would later illustrate some of
her novels under the name "Ian Hugo," little is known of how long this
marriage survived.) She investigated psychoanalysis under the tutelage of
Otto Rank, and briefly practiced the discipline under his supervision and
on her own in New York City (1934--35). She returned to France (1935), and
helped establish a publishing house, Siana Editions, because no one would
publish her erotically charged works. She returned to New York City (1939)
and continued writing but it would be the 1960s before she began to be
discovered by the literary world at large. She would eventually become
best-known for her series of intensely personal journals begun in 1931,
The Diary of Anaïs Nin (10 vols. 1966--83); additional journals have since
been published. She is also known for her intimate relationships with
Henry Miller and Lawrence Durrell, among many others described in her
writings. She also wrote novels, short stories, and erotica, all clearly
drawing on the contents of her journals."
From
www.generationterrorists.com/bio/miller.html:
Henry Valentine Miller
"(1891
- 1980) Writer; born in New York City. Of German-American parentage (young
Henry mainly spoke German until he began school), he briefly attended City
College of New York (1909), then worked at a variety of jobs, including
Western Union (1920--24). He had married in 1917 and had a daughter in
1919) but was divorced in 1924, immediately marrying his second wife, June
Smith, a dancer. He had long aspired to be a writer and had begun to
publish book reviews by 1919, but it was 1922 before he commenced writing
a novel (never published).
"Quitting
his job in 1924, he turned to anything to support himself as a
writer--selling poems door-to-door, managing a speakeasy in Greenwich
Village--and then in 1928 went off to Europe hoping to find a publisher.
He returned to New York, wrote a third novel (never published), and, his
marriage failing, went to Paris in 1930 where he would live famously for
the entire decade. Subsisting largely on handouts and some journalism, he
became involved with Anaïs Nin, who helped him publish (in Paris) his
first major work, Tropic of Cancer (1934), heavily autobiographical and so
sexually explicit that it was banned in English-speaking countries. (The
first American edition did not come out until 1961.) Subsequent books such
as Black Spring (1936) and Tropic of Capricorn (1939) were also banned.
"As
World War II began, he went off to Greece to visit with an early admirer,
the writer Lawrence Durrell; out of this came Miller's Colossus of
Maroussi (1941). Back in the U.S.A., he toured the country - describing
the experience in The Air-Conditioned Nightmare (1945)--before settling in
Big Sur, Calif., in 1944. By now he was living off advances from James
Laughlin of New Directions Press, but several of his books began to sell.
His Sexus (1949) was the first part of a promised trilogy on his life,
called The Rosy Crucifixion, but only Nexus (1960) appeared. By the
late-1950s he was finding himself increasingly honoured by the literary
establishment, and with the legal decision that Tropic of Cancer was not
obscene, his works began to be republished. He also began to receive some
recognition as a water colourist. By the end of his life, he was widely
recognized both for breaking down the barriers of censorship and for
opening up the possibilities of modern fiction."
'Microsoft'
Microsoft is, of course, the world's most successful computer software
company, owned by Bill Gates. You're probably reading this on some of his
software.
'Primrose Hill'
Primrose Hill is the highest point in London, and from the top, it is
possible to see virtually the whole city.
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