Nothing is more fun than commercial art signposting a realm you didn't know existed. Welcome.

Buying a book based on its cover: not something I do but how could one resist a cover like this!? (Now happily in my library & a great read.)

Midsommar (2019)
Kill List (2011)
The Evil Within (2017)
The Transfiguration (2016)
Carnival of Souls (1962)
Dashcam (2022)
Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
VHS (2012)
Orphan (2009)
Sinister (2012)
Under the Skin (2013)
The Vanishing (1988)

Grid of movie posters, listed in reply below.

Classical horror (slashers, scream queens, jump scares) are dull as hell; these are more to my taste; disturbing, confusing, unsettling, bizarre.

bad luck, because as glorified money grubbers they’re policing their own duplicity. As in ‘Billions’, you never ask a trader to talk about anything other than trades, as it’s all they can ever know. Production values are exceptional but they can’t compensate for the nothingness beyond the dollar.

All the key players – presentable though they may be – come from an enchantment-free zone. Perhaps their inner vacuity could be made to look intriguing to outsiders, yet these tattooed and coke-addled fucksters can only ever manage banality by numbers. Jeopardy for them amounts to unforeseen

Narrative shift in Industry (S04) from an insider look at high-end day-trading to quasi-political ‘drama/thriller’ exposes an inherent weakness; other than erupting with frenzied deals, trading floors tend to be populated by jittery dullards.

Fighting Wegie Kittens #cat #cute #funny #kitten #kitty #blackcat #cuteanimals YouTube video by Jakob Zaaiman

Norwegian forest kittens (Wegies) in training; watch this short till the end; you'll understand how much kittens love to fight with other kittens, on the furniture & in the garden.
www.youtube.com/shorts/_Yay_...

Ad for psychiatric facility, found in the back of the sort of magazine you can pick up off the coffee table in a waiting room. & a tribute to a great outsider musician, Cecil Dill. Works are portals to strange & disturbing worlds beyond AI in any form. images.saatchiart.com/saatchi/7611...

Not necessarily - there's decorative art & there's narrative, & then there's stuff which doesn't quite rise to either level; I'm not a fan of the idea it's art because someone labelled it that; it is possible with some effort to discern art from not-art.

It’s Just an Unmade Bed: Why Tracey Emin (Amongst Others) Fails as an Artist Artworks need to tell us something unusual and unexpected, not simply reflect what we already know

Tracey is not an artist; she's a self-publicist with bits of crafting attached. Nothing wrong with that whatsoever, it's good fun, but it's not art. Contemporary art is about discovering new realms of unusual experience & inviting viewers inside. (Article free to read as always)
tinyurl.com/yc4uzu55

Not meant to be cruel to a very successful poet but Jorie Graham's output over the last few years is very weak sauce. She is channelling Sam Beckett's 'Not I' stream of consciousness voice & like all late Beckett, is not very interesting/meaningful to say the least. Mystifying.

Harry Pussy (1992–1997) Masterpieces of modern/contemporary art #10 Extraordinary noise band led by the wonderful Adris Hoyos - you really need to give them a listen.
(Article free to read, as always)
jakobzaaiman.substack.com/p/harry-puss...

How to understand modern contemporary art, enjoy it, and not be fooled Modern contemporary art remains a mystery because most people — including art critics and even artists themselves — are unable to see…

How to understand modern contemporary art, enjoy it, and not be fooled (Article free to read)
Contemporary art is not self-evident - it often needs quite a bit of effort: all is explained!
jakobzaaiman.substack.com/p/how-to-und...

The Secret Agent (2025) (dir Kleber Mendonça Filho) Wagner Moura. Great start; desolate countryside, saturated colours, a dead body. Military rule; a contract killing. But plot & action slacken as if secondary to the vibrant Brazilian look & feel plus way too much explanatory chatter. Loses its way.

Poster of movie 'The Rip' (2026)

The Rip (2026) Matt & Ben go about dangerous cop ‘work’ apparently unaware of safety procedures, despite having been threatened with sudden death; & when the shooting starts they fire wildly at nothing. Much noise to no effect. Action becomes so inexplicably silly not worth watching beyond halfway.

‘I was sick of beauty.’ Louise Bourgeois
One reviewer complained her new works looked as though ‘the sculptor hadn’t felt like working.’ (LRB article) but the point is that Louise was inviting us to explore a new realm in which 'beauty' & 'fine crafting' were no longer key ingredients.

Peter Hujar's Day (2025) Gently compelling as a conversational record of an artistic workday; too prosaic for some perhaps but writers & poets will soon respond to the flow of elemental detail.

Which Hitchcock for a beginner? The Birds, followed by Vertigo. Why? Birds is a science fiction nightmare in which a parallel realm crashes into ours temporarily; Vertigo is a romantic psychopathology which teams nicely with Phantom Thread; these movies look innocent but are sure to detonate later.

Clarice Lispector (talk with Edilberto Coutinho)
"I am Jewish, you know. But I don't believe in that foolishness of the Jews being the chosen people of God. No way are they chosen. The Germans must be because of what they did. What special kind of choice was that for the Jews? "

Different kinds of trauma: some make you psychotic (Irreversible; The Golden Glove); others can be fun (The Monkey). Go for the latter b/c we can also laugh at the apocalypse. As the man said 'Well Sir, can't speak for you but I don't feel especially fucked to hell!' Dance.

Liz Truss=performance art. Pinheads for Incorrect - Shaggs, Lucia Pamela, Jandek, William Shatner - find Liz does spoken word. David Icke - 100% LIZard - could sing. Lizard TV is borderline hebephrenic garbage & unwatchable yet glorious. Angst: das Grauen.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpH8...

Wazzing as a girly artform not squalid post-pub emergency; Sophie Rickett graces the cover in a neat standup slash; very elegant; not a Vivienne Westwood suit but a cheap charity shop number. Other pissers (all dressed for work) give off a more boss woman vibe. Great book = art.

John Calder badly misunderstood Sam Beckett by trying to 'domesticate' (ie tame/blunt/ameliorate) his key theme: failure wasn't a badge of honour or bad luck; it was the inevitable destiny of anyone with the least decency. Too much for most, this message needs to be hidden in misdirection.

Metal is a great sub-genre yet only about 0.3% hits the spot. Hard to get the attack right on stage or in studio. Motorhead had strategy (bludgeoning) but were often tinny & shrill with a weak guitar. However Hamburg 1998 it was perfect; what a noise!
youtu.be/tshOdkqYZhU

Contemporary art is not self-evident; you need to do a bit of thinking! (Article free to read.)
jakobzaaiman.substack.com/p/why-do-we-...

(Weapons) Gladys was so fantastically captivating - at least as good if not better than Hannibal/Hopkins - she was kinda wasted in a not very interesting movie. Talk of a prequel, but please don't waste her talents on another weak script. Go Aunty Glad.

Eraserhead (1977)
Midsommar (2019)
Kill List (2011)
Tony (2009)
Beau is Afraid (2023)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Kiss Me, Deadly (1955)
Performance (1970)
Vertigo (1958)
Fish Tank (2009)

The Pale Horse (2020)
ZeroZeroZero (2020)
Sharp Objects (2018)
The Leftovers (2014)
Station Eleven (2021)
Chloe (2022)
Red Riding Trilogy (2009)
Hinterland (2013)
Twin Peaks 3 (2017)
Maid (2021)

10 magnificent TV miniseries; Sopranos has been left out as it is in an indisputable class of its own; Maid is so brutal one can only watch it once; the rest will repay repeat viewings for the rest of one's life. These multi-episode stories are effectively long-form movies.