Circle of Eight, Just a Matter of Understanding

This film which came out in 2009 seems a bit weird but is definitely worth a view. There have been some questions about the understanding of Circle of Eight which have sufficiently been answered on the internet. But I'd like to mention my remark on the core message of the movie, so if you have not watched the movie already stop reading here or it will spoil your watching experience! I get the message of the movie, I think, that humans do not easily learn to do the right thing whether in one life or in many as the movie suggests.

But the situation where the main character does need to learn from is not correct in my view. Who's in a life threatening situation where he/she can save a life but decides not to do therefore is not in fault. Humans are genetically programmed to flea or fight in these situations. 

"Who chooses to flea instead of fight in a life-threatening situation is not wrong in my opinion"

Who chooses to flea is not wrong in my opinion, it's just a perfectly natural reaction on a threat. I don't believe we need to come back to learn to fight, because the spirit would then not be harmonical to nature's capacities.

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       • Circle of Eight (2009, Paramount Pictures, United States) 

       

☆ Directed by Stephen Cragg. Starring John Bishop, Ryan Doom, Austin Highsmith Garces and Kirk Bovill

☆ This movie is labeled horror, mystery and sci-fi by imdb.com

☆ Setting is a L.A. based apartment building called 'The Dante', a strong reference to Italian poet Dante Aligheiri and his seminal work La Divina Commedia

26.08.2016

Egon Schiele Under Attack

As you probably do not know I'm a fan of the work of Egon Schiele. I'm not really an expert into the painting art but for my feeling he is one of the greatest painters that have been. It is said his work is alienating, I would say it is a bit distorted as was his life. Egon lead a rather difficult short life which was filled with scandal and death. He painted expressionist portraits of himself and other people, among which lots of erotic ones, some city views and landscapes all done in a unique, maybe childish style but never simple.

"Egon Schiele lead a rather difficult short life which was filled with scandal and death"

It is also said Schiele was more a drawer than a painter because of the prominent use of lines after which he did the colouring. In a way I can cope with that as I could easily see his works figuring in an experimental comic strip album. Just watch his portrayal of the Port of Triest or his Self-portrait as Saint Sebastian here symbolising the suffering of the artist.

 Self-portrait as Saint Sebastian. Poster, gouache, black crayon and ink on cardboard, 19.6" x 26", 1915 © IMAGNO/Wien Museum

The latter he used for his own exhibition at Galerie Arnot in January 1915. Today his works are shown above all at the Leopold Museum in Vienna. With more than 220 works, they established the world's most comprehensive Schiele collection. I can highly recommend a visit!

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       • Leopold Museum (Collection of Austrian art)

☆ MuseumsQuartier, Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Wien/Vienna

☆ Open daily from 10h till 18h, also on public holidays. Closed on tuesday.

☆ The Leopold collection gathers more than 8.300 Austrian art works from the second half of the nineteenth century and Modernism

☆ Husband-and-wife art collectors Rudolf and Elisabeth Leopold created this collection from the mid-fifties on - when Schiele and Klimt were still considered taboo - during five decades

20.06.2016