​​📖✔️ "The Farewell Waltz" | "The Farewell Party"
(🇨🇿 "Valčík na rozloučenou")
Author: Milan Kundera
Country: Czechoslovakia 🇨🇿
Publication date: 1972
Genres: fiction, novel

Denoscription on Goodreads:
"Klima, a celebrated jazz trumpeter, receives a phone call announcing that a young nurse with whom he spent a brief night at a fertility spa is pregnant. She has decided he is the father.

And so begins a comedy in which, during five madcap days, events unfold with ever-increasing speed. Klima's beautiful, jealous wife; the nurse's equally jealous boyfriend; a fanatical gynecologist; a rich American, at once Don Juan and saint; and an elderly political prisoner who, just before his emigration, is holding a farewell party at the spa, are all drawn into this black comedy, as in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

As usual, Milan Kundera poses serious questions with a blasphemous lightness which makes us understand that the modern world has taken away our right to tragedy."

​​🎵💿 Aphex Twin - Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / In a Room7 F760 (EP)
Released: July 28, 2023
Label: Warp
Genres: electronic, IDM, acid, techno

Denoscription on AllMusic:
"After releasing the splendid Collapse EP in 2018, Aphex Twin collaborated with synthesizer company Novation on a monosynth called AFX Station, and issued a few limited-edition EPs at some of his festival appearances. Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / in a room7 F760 is his first proper release of new material in five years, and while it felt like the veteran musician was pushing his sound forward on Collapse, here he's essentially in his comfort zone. "Blackbox Life Recorder 21f," the brief EP's first and longest track, starts out with twitchy beats, mellow synth chords, and soft melodies that sound like a sampled human voice; eventually, chunky breakbeats ricochet across the soundscape. Several different breaks pile up, and just as it feels like it's on the verge of overload, the beats pause for a moment in order to refresh, then smoothly return. Second track "zin2 test5" sets an elastic bassline and intricate beat patterns against soft streams of synth pads. If any element of the track was subtracted, it would sound too simple or underdeveloped, but it all fits together perfectly. Racing drums lead the charge on "in a room7 F760," which has a slight '80s action vibe in the beginning, until the synths become more fragmented and the drums are briefly whittled down to sharp, clanging edges, momentarily recalling the abrasive drill'n'bass style of late-'90s Aphex. "Blackbox Life Recorder 22 Parallax Mix" is a less melodic variation on the first track, also lacking its sense of balance. The EP isn't a game changer, but it bears enough of Aphex Twin's unmistakable personality to be worthwhile."

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See also:
Aphex Twin - Drukqs (2001)

​​🎬✔️ "The Wind That Shakes the Barley"
Director: Ken Loach
Writer: Paul Laverty
Countries: Ireland 🇮🇪, UK 🇬🇧, Germany 🇩🇪, Italy 🇮🇹, Spain 🇪🇸, France 🇫🇷, Switzerland 🇨🇭
Year: 2006
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Pádraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham, Orla Fitzgerald ...
Genres: drama, war

Denoscription on IMDb:
"Against the backdrop of the Irish War of Independence, two brothers fight a guerrilla war against British forces."

Ratings
IMDb: 7.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes:
- Tomatometer 90%
- Audience score 87%

​​📖✔️ "Siddhartha"
Author: Hermann Hesse
Country: Germany (Weimar Republic) 🇩🇪
Publication date: 1922
Genres: fiction, novel, philosophy, spirituality, religion

Denoscription on Goodreads:
"Herman Hesse's classic novel has delighted, inspired, and influenced generations of readers, writers, and thinkers. In this story of a wealthy Indian Brahmin who casts off a life of privilege to seek spiritual fulfillment, Hesse synthesizes disparate philosophies - Eastern religions, Jungian archetypes, Western individualism - into a unique vision of life as expressed through one man's search for true meaning."

​​🎬✔️ "Bicycle Thieves"
(🇮🇹 "Ladri di biciclette")
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Writers: Cesare Zavattini, Luigi Bartolini ...
Country: Italy 🇮🇹
Year: 1948
Starring: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell ...
Genre: drama

Denoscription on IMDb:
"In post-war Italy, a working-class man's bicycle is stolen, endangering his efforts to find work. He and his son set out to find it."

Ratings
IMDb: 8.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes:
- Tomatometer 99%
- Audience score 94%

​​🎬✔️ "Alice in the Cities"
(🇩🇪 "Alice in den Städten")
Director: Wim Wenders
Writers: Wim Wenders, Veith von Fürstenberg
Country: West Germany 🇩🇪
Year: 1974
Starring: Rüdiger Vogler, Yella Rottländer ...
Genres: drama, road movie

Denoscription on IMDb:
"A German journalist is saddled with a nine-year-old girl after encountering her mother at a New York airport."

Ratings
IMDb: 7.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes:
- Tomatometer 100%
- Audience score 91%

​​🎬✔️ "A Man Escaped"
(🇫🇷 "Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut")
Director: Robert Bresson
Writers: André Devigny, Robert Bresson
Country: France 🇫🇷
Year: 1956
Starring: François Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice Beerblock ...
Genres: drama, thriller, war

Denoscription on IMDb:
"A captured French Resistance fighter during WWII engineers a daunting escape from a Nazi prison in France."

Ratings
IMDb: 8.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes:
- Tomatometer 100%
- Audience score 93%

​​🎬✔️ "Two Days, One Night"
(🇫🇷 "Deux jours, une nuit")
Directors/writers: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Countries: Belgium 🇧🇪, France 🇫🇷, Italy 🇮🇹
Year: 2014
Starring: Marion Cotillard, Fabrizio Rongione ...
Genre: drama

Denoscription on IMDb:
"Liège, Belgium. Sandra is a factory worker who discovers that her workmates have opted for a EUR1,000 bonus in exchange for her dismissal. She has only a weekend to convince her colleagues to give up their bonuses in order to keep her job."

Ratings
IMDb: 7.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes:
- Tomatometer 97%
- Audience score 77%

​​🎬✔️ "The Passion of Joan of Arc"
(🇫🇷 "La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc")
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Writers: Carl Theodor Dreyer, Joseph Delteil
Country: France 🇫🇷
Year: 1928
Starring: Renée Jeanne Falconetti ...
Genres: drama, biography, history

Denoscription on IMDb:
"In 1431, Jeanne d'Arc is placed on trial on charges of heresy. The ecclesiastical jurists attempt to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions."

Ratings
IMDb: 8.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes:
- Tomatometer 98%
- Audience score 93%

​​🎬✔️ "Red Desert"
(🇮🇹 "Deserto rosso")
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Writers: Michelangelo Antonioni, Tonino Guerra
Countries: Italy 🇮🇹, France 🇫🇷
Year: 1964
Starring: Monica Vitti, Richard Harris ...
Genre: drama

Denoscription on IMDb:
"In an industrial area, unstable Giuliana attempts to cope with life by starting an affair with a co-worker at the plant her husband manages."

Ratings
IMDb: 7.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes:
- Tomatometer 97%
- Audience score 85%

​​📖✔️ "Gardens and Streets" | "Gardens and Roads"
(🇩🇪 "Gärten und Straßen")
Author: Ernst Jünger
Country: Germany
Written: April 1939 - July 1940
Publication date: 1942
Genres: nonfiction, diary, biography, history, war

Denoscription on Goodreads:
"Ernst Jünger was a decorated German soldier and author who became famous for his World War I memoir Storm of Steel. The son of a successful businessman and chemist, Jünger rebelled against an affluent upbringing and sought adventure in the Wandervogel, before running away to briefly serve in the French Foreign Legion, an illegal act. Because he escaped prosecution in Germany due to his father's efforts, Junger was able to enlist on the outbreak of war. A fearless leader who admired bravery above all else, he enthusiastically participated in actions in which his units were sometimes virtually annihilated. During an ill-fated German offensive in 1918 Junger's WW1 career ended with the last and most serious of his many woundings, and he was awarded the Pour le Mérite, a rare decoration for one of his rank.

Junger served in World War II as captain in the German Army. Assigned to an administrative position in Paris, he socialized with prominent artists of the day such as Picasso and Jean Cocteau. His early time in France is described in his diary Gärten und Straßen (Gardens and Streets)."

​​📖✔️ "Steppenwolf"
Author: Hermann Hesse
Countries: Switzerland 🇨🇭, Germany (Weimar Republic) 🇩🇪
Publication date: 1927
Genres: fiction, novel, philosophy, psychology, existentialism

Denoscription on Goodreads:
Steppenwolf is a poetical self-portrait of a man who felt himself to be half-human and half-wolf. This Faust-like and magical story is evidence of Hesse's searching philosophy and extraordinary sense of humanity as he tells of the humanization of a middle-aged misanthrope. Yet his novel can also be seen as a plea for rigorous self-examination and an indictment of the intellectual hypocrisy of the period. As Hesse himself remarked, "Of all my books Steppenwolf is the one that was more often and more violently misunderstood than any of the others".

​​🎬✔️ "The Man Without a Past"
(🇫🇮 "Mies vailla menneisyyttä")
Director/writer: Aki Kaurismäki
Countries: Finland 🇫🇮, Germany 🇩🇪, France 🇫🇷
Year: 2002
Starring: Markku Peltola, Kati Outinen, Juhani Niemelä, Kaija Pakarinen, Sakari Kuosmanen, Annikki Tähti ...
Genres: drama, comedy, romance

Denoscription on IMDb:
"M arrives in Helsinki only to be viciously attacked by thugs and pronounced dead by medics. He revives but with no memory of his past or his identity. He rebuilds his life from scratch, but the past inevitably catches up with him."

Ratings
IMDb: 7.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes:
- Tomatometer 98%
- Audience score 90%

​​🎬✔️ "Sick of Myself"
(🇳🇴 "Syk pike")
Director/writer: Kristoffer Borgli
Countries: Norway 🇳🇴, Sweden 🇸🇪, Denmark 🇩🇰, France 🇫🇷
Year: 2022
Starring: Kristine Kujath Thorp, Eirik Sæther ...
Genres: drama, comedy, horror

Denoscription on IMDb:
"Increasingly overshadowed by her boyfriend's recent rise to fame as a contemporary artist creating sculptures from stolen furniture, Signe hatches a vicious plan to reclaim her rightfully deserved attention within the milieu of Oslo's cultural elite."

Ratings
IMDb: 7.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes:
- Tomatometer 88%
- Audience score 82%

​​🎬✔️ "Grave of the Fireflies"
(🇯🇵 火垂るの墓 | Hotaru no Haka)
Director: Isao Takahata
Writers: Isao Takahata, Akiyuki Nosaka
Country: Japan 🇯🇵
Year: 1988
Starring (voices): Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi ...
Genres: animation, drama, war

Denoscription on IMDb:
"A young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II."

Ratings
IMDb: 8.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes:
- Tomatometer 100%
- Audience score 95%

​​🎬✔️ "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie"
(🇫🇷 "Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie")
Director: Luis Buñuel
Writers: Luis Buñuel, Jean-Claude Carrière
Countries: France 🇫🇷, Italy 🇮🇹, Spain 🇪🇸
Year: 1972
Starring: Fernando Rey, Paul Frankeur, Delphine Seyrig, Bulle Ogier, Stéphane Audran, Jean-Pierre Cassel ...
Genre: comedy

Denoscription on IMDb:
"A surreal, virtually plotless series of dreams centered around six middle-class people and their consistently interrupted attempts to have a meal together."

Ratings
IMDb: 7.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes:
- Tomatometer 98%
- Audience score 89%

​​🎵💿 Placebo - Loud Like Love
Released: September 16, 2013
Labels: Vertigo, Elevator Lady Ltd
Genre: alternative rock

🖤🖤🖤

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​​🎵💿 Nirvana - In Utero
Released: September 21, 1993
Label: DGC
Genres: grunge, alternative rock, noise rock

Denoscription on AllMusic:
"Nirvana probably hired Steve Albini to produce In Utero with the hopes of creating their own Surfer Rosa, or at least shoring up their indie cred after becoming a pop phenomenon with a glossy punk record. In Utero, of course, turned out to be their last record, and it's hard not to hear it as Kurt Cobain's suicide note, since Albini's stark, uncompromising sound provides the perfect setting for Cobain's bleak, even nihilistic, lyrics. Even if the album wasn't a literal suicide note, it was certainly a conscious attempt to shed their audience - an attempt that worked, by the way, since the record had lost its momentum when Cobain died in the spring of 1994. Even though the band tempered some of Albini's extreme tactics in a remix, the record remains a deliberately alienating experience, front-loaded with many of its strongest songs, then descending into a series of brief, dissonant squalls before concluding with "All Apologies," which only gets sadder with each passing year. Throughout it all, Cobain's songwriting is typically haunting, and its best moments rank among his finest work, but the over-amped dynamicism of the recording seems like a way to camouflage his dispiritedness - as does the fact that he consigned such great songs as "Verse Chorus Verse" and "I Hate Myself and Want to Die" to compilations, when they would have fit, even illuminated the themes of In Utero. Even without those songs, In Utero remains a shattering listen, whether it's viewed as Cobain's farewell letter or self-styled audience alienation. Few other records are as willfully difficult as this."

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​​📖✔️ "Journey to the End of the Night"
(🇫🇷 "Voyage au bout de la nuit")
Author: Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Country: France 🇫🇷
Publication date: 1932
Genre: semi-autobiographical novel

Denoscription on Goodreads:
"Louis-Ferdinand Celine's revulsion and anger at what he considered the idiocy and hypocrisy of society explodes from nearly every page of this novel. Filled with slang and obscenities and written in raw, colloquial language, Journey to the End of the Night is a literary symphony of violence, cruelty and obscene nihilism. This book shocked most critics when it was first published in France in 1932, but quickly became a success with the reading public in Europe, and later in America where it was first published by New Directions in 1952. The story of the improbable yet convincingly described travels of the petit-bourgeois (and largely autobiographical) antihero, Bardamu, from the trenches of World War I, to the African jungle, to New York and Detroit, and finally to life as a failed doctor in Paris, takes the readers by the scruff and hurtles them toward the novel's inevitable, sad conclusion."

​​🎵💿 Ocoeur - Nouveau Départ
Released: October 6, 2023
Label: n5MD
Genres: ambient, electroacoustic, neoclassical, IDM

Denoscription on deejay.de:
Nouveau Départ is the eighth album from Bordeaux-based composer Franck Zaragoza and his electronically focused Ocoeur eponym.

Zaragoza's recent Ocoeur collections have focused on personal introspection as a solid thematic basis, and Nouveau Départ continues an arch that began with 2021's Connection. In recent years, Zaragoza began practicing attentive mindfulness, consciously focusing on his connection with the world, believing that happiness is attainable in the moment and not something that is only fleetingly tangible in the future. Zaragoza comments, "We can all transform our emotions from anger and sadness to happiness and compassion. Such a transformation in thought can profoundly affect the people around us. Nouveau Départ was composed in the spirit of love, empathy, and deep understanding."

Nouveau Départ is an aural representation of this kind of mindfulness and could be viewed as a soundtrack to foster feelings of humanity and thoughtfulness for those around us. Beginning such consideration is the start of a journey, and Nouveau Départ is a great companion for such passage.

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