A very enjoyable little fiction book about a man living in Czechoslovakia during the Cold War who’s obsessed with collecting porcelain figurines. It kinda has the same vibe as a Werner Herzog fiction like Fitzcarraldo if you’re into that sort of thing. Anyway I think it’s way underrated. Here’s the first page because I feel like you can often tell if you will like a book by reading its first page.
Jan 19, 2025
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I’m a huge Herzog fan, so when I heard he released his debut novel I knew I had to grab it as my next tour read. In typical Herzog fashion, the book is based on true events but with certain facts embellished and reimagined in that signature surreal Herzog way. The book is a retelling of Japanese soldier Hiroo Onoda’s story, who was stationed on an island in the Philippines during WWII, and continued to fight an imaginary war 29 years after the war ended because word of its cessation never reached him. The book is a hallucinatory fever dream of Onoda’s struggles during this time, both mental and physical. Similar to his documentaries, the best parts of the book aren’t factual, but when he goes off on his own weird surreal tangential musings. Plus it’s just fun to read it in Herzog's voice.
May 25, 2023
I would recommend his work to anyone interested in counter culture journalism / Foucault-esque intellectualism / Soviet era Europe ! I’m having an absolute ball of a time reading about all the shit this man got up to in the 60s and 70s
Mar 19, 2024
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ok it took me two months to finish it but this book is genuinely unlike anything else i’ve read. it’s a fairytale about the planned economy! it’s somehow both an empathetic work of fiction and an in-depth examination of an era and its ideology. plus the sentences are so intensely rich and beautiful. anyway its not for everyone but it was really for me.
Mar 18, 2025
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Feb 22, 2025
This is one of my childhood films, it’s known in France and I don’t know if it’s been exported a lot but I love it !
It’s by Jacques Demy, THE French musical film director, and tells the story of donkey skin (based on a Grimm story I believe).
The costumes ! The Colors ! The songs ! Catherine Deneuve ! Random people with blue skin ! It’s all good
It all really creates a very whimsical fairy tale atmosphere that’s PERFECT
Anyway watch it with subtitles, I’m guessing dubbed musicals are really bad
Here is the trailer
Feb 9, 2025
Not at all like a lot of « sensationalist » documentaries about space exploration, this is on the slower side, but it’s SO worth it !! It gets almost trippy at times, and some of the shots are so beautiful…
Being an astronaut in the 70s looks so fun !!
Also the Brian Eno soundtrack in this is INCREDIBLE.
Just watch it, it’s really good, AND it’s free on youtube (linked here)
Feb 5, 2025