“I decided it was important for me to look at this community of women of lost identity not as segmented bodies but as whole individuals and icons of reality. I wanted to code the genetics of prostitution. I feel that prostitution is a concept, a cultural legitimate behavior and a common myth that should be reviewed and analyzed.”
Golda Holterman believes, women’s bodies have become normalized as sexual objects in the media of Western society, particularly photography. The danger of this approach is that the person becomes an object which can be used and disposed of.
“For me, photography is a medium of observation. Through photography, I create an alternative way to observe that a pattern of myth exists in reality: women as a perishable object of desire. If the viewer can stay with the sense of humanism, I will have achieved my goal.”

A different look on the topic of woman exploitation in the sex industry is given in the movie Yo Puta. The movie maybe mellows things down a bit, but it does give an intriguing insight/introduction into this world.

Links:
Gallery 1839 London
Px3 Photo Competition
Via traveling with the ghost.

It’s hard to capture the essence of a person, of an event and even of a simple picture. It’s ten times harder to capture the essence of a city and it’s even harder to catch the essence of a unique city. Les Méduses (Jellyfish) manages to do just this. Even if it doesn’t capture an entire essence, it does so with amazing precision. It captures the essence of Tel Aviv and of an entire generation of young Israelis that live, love and get lost in this vibrant city. With the history, environment and the mixture of people that Tel Aviv sports, it’s a challenging task. What makes this movie even more special is that very few movies tried to really do this, and even less succeeded, while keeping themselves as a pleasuring eye candy.
Les Méduses won two award in the Cannes 2007. It’s probably not going to be easy to get to see this one, but it’s well worth it.
Links:
Les Méduses @ Pyramid Films

“I believe sex is sacred, too,” Mitchell continued. “But it’s not being respected by the American cinema.”

Links:
IMDB entry
Official website

The genius quality that men managed to induce into art is the almost complete correlation between eroticism and high aesthetic value. It’s wonderful, we have the privilege of drolling over a girl, and excuse it as an aesthetic admiration. Of course, a beautiful girl is a highly aesthetic object, but still, agree with it or not, the connection between erotic attraction and aesthetic value does seem odd, as if it was created this way.
Cashback is two things: a short movie and a full length feature. The short movie, which is linked here, is a wonderful presentation of an idea which was created in 2004. The full length feature is a new movie released recently, which takes the idea and adds a “personal” touch to it. Looks promising.
Links:
IMDB entry – 2004 version
IMDB entry – 2006 version
Official movie website

Trailer 1 [YouTube]
Trailer 2 [YouTube]
Clip [YouTube]
Music Video Clip [YouTube]
Dream Sequence [YouTube]
Year: 2004
Directed by: Gen Sekiguchi
Plot Summery:
A man continually trying and failing to get his wife to stay dead; a self-absorbed ad agency creative director who comes up with one unworkably inane idea after another; an English hitman who only wants to know everyone’s function in life; and an unfortunate office worker and father whose brain is left scrambled after a stage hypnotist is murdered in mid-performance. Starting off as unrelated plot lines, they intertwine with each other as they continue on their respective ways.
Links:
IMDB Entry
Official UK Site
Movie Torrent

We come from people who brought us up to believe that life is a struggle, and if you should feel really happy, be patient: this will pass.

Stage. Lights. Curtain up. We have been fooled, there’s no prairie here, only some worn out musicians. Lies! Deception! Oh, my lord, Christ is pure and we have deceived by the fuckin’ democrats. But wait, what is going on? It’s the prairie all right, it’s the goddamn wilderness, cowboys and lasses, Christians and nothing else, whites and no more. Oh, yea, cowboy, this is the prairie, and these rugged musicians are your guides. It’s all on the radio, no TV can transmit these pictures, for that you need a stretch out that antenna, move it a bit to get it clear, and here the prairie invading your life. Some miracles just keep on running day by day, despite TV, despite Podcasts, despite Soulseek, there were some good things, and for some reason CNN and WB forgot to wipe them out or buy them in.

She shot that bastard in the heart, And ruined his nice suit!

Links:
IMDB entry
Radio show website
Movie official website
Update 21/11/06:
On November 21st Robert Altman, the director of A Prairie Home Companion, died at the age of 81. This makes A Prairie Home Companion his bid of farewell. A grander one he couldn’t ask.

Lola Johnson: What if you die some day?
Garrison Keillor: I will die.
Lola Johnson: Don’t you want people to remember you?
Garrison Keillor: I don’t want them to be told to remember me.

Pixel Pirate II: Attack of the Astro Elvis Video Clone is an hour long narrative remix video constructed from samples pirated from over 300 film and music sources. It contains no original audio or video footage. Think of it as a sci-fi / biblical epic / action movie with a subplot of troubled romance. It also stars Elvis Presley, Moses, The Hulk, Monkey, Batman & Robin, Michael Jackson and The Ghostbusters.
The Year is 3001 and the ancient art of remix is being oppressed by the evil tyrant Moses and his Copyright Commandments. Meanwhile, in a secret base-camp on the moon a team of Pixel Pirates plot to overthrow Moses via their latest scientific discovery – video cloning. Their plan: travel back to 1955, abduct Elvis and bring him back to the future. They then clone Elvis and send the Video Clone back to 2015 to assassinate Moses, altering the course of VHS history. But first the Elvis Clone must face-off against the Copyright Cops and every action hero that MGM can throw his way.

Links:
Official Website