From: James Cole (email suppressed)
Date: Thu Mar 26 2009 - 09:44:39 PDT
I've seen it once, and the number of walkouts was staggering. Probably more
walkouts during CHRISTMAS ON EARTH than any other film I've been to. If you
go see a movie called COCKS AND CUNTS, you know what you're getting. If you
really want to put people off (which, having seen the film, is at least one
of the major goals of the film), then you lull them to sleep with CHRISTMAS
ON EARTH. The title COCKS AND CUNTS, while admittedly more descriptive
(although the resonances of salvation + play with the word "Christmas" are
kind of interesting), can only serve to keep the people who walk out from
ever walking in. I'm not wild about the film, but I'm happy to have seen
it, and I vote unequivocally for CHRISTMAS ON EARTH.
-James
On Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 11:49 AM, Fred Davidson <email suppressed> wrote:
> History remembers Barbara Rubin's, only famous, and to
> my knowledge, only critically acclaimed, film, as CHRISTMAS ON EARTH. Rubin
> died of postnatal infection in France at the age of thirty-five in 1980 *2
> * Jack not in 1968 or 1969 as you had formally thought. However, as many
> of you know, that film originally had quite a different title. Originally it
> was called COCKS AND CUNTS. No shit. I shit you not.
> Though I think it is time for us to collectively move beyond Freud,
> and anyone, notwithstanding Ernie Gehr, who has ever seen Hollis Frampton's
> Zorn's Lemma is sure to agree with me, *3* let's not forget what Freud
> said. Freud said that man is the only animal that is not offended by the
> smell of his own shit. I think that is what he said. It was something like
> that. Are there any Freudian scholars out there in this limited audience of
> about seven-hundred that know? Do a fella a favor and correct me if I'm
> wrong. Please. Anyway, it went all the way from COCKS AND CUNTS to CHRISTMAS
> ON EARTH in one fell swoop. I was wondering if my fellow frameworkers would
> like to cast their vote for which title they like best. I cast
> mine unequivocally for COCKS AND CUNTS, as this title is the title that the
> artist, Barbara Rubin, originally intended. *4*
> Although I admit I have never actually seen the film, and probably
> never will, furthermore, notwithstanding the basic tenet that I hold
> dear that says it is impossible to discuss a film that one has never seen,
> from the description of the work I've heard, while CHRISTMAS ON EARTH may be
> the more saleable title and thus appeals to large audiences, I would argue
> that the original title COCKS AND CUNTS better describes the film and is
> therefore the more fitting. What is your opinion? Vote your mind! Vote
> your conscious! But whatever you do. Please. Vote! If I can provide
> the necessary documents that show that we have an unanimous consensus then
> maybe I can take this to the Library of Congress or the National Film Board
> of Canada or whoever it is, Ms. Kate D. Levin perhaps at the mayors office?,
> that is in charge of such things and make the change official.
>
> Fred (Stamper! Stamper! it rhymes with... with... ???. That's right! Right
> you are! You got it! You got it 'cause round things are boring. O.K. "All
> together now, one, two, three. Keep your mind on your drivin'..." *5* )
> Davidson
> Boca Raton
>
> *1* NEVER GIVE AN INCH, prod. John Foreman, Frank Caffey, Paul Newman,
> dir. Paul Newman, 1971, 35mm, 113 min.
>
> *2* Daniel Belasco, "Barbara Rubin: The Vanished Prodigy", Art Signal
> Contemporary Art Magazine,
> http://magazine.art-signal.com/en/barbara-rubin-the-vanished-prodigy/ (accessed
> March 18, 2009)
>
> *3* Various Authors, "Zorns Lemma (film)", Wikipedia, The Free
> Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorns_Lemma_(film)<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorns_Lemma_%28film%29> (accessed
> March 18, 2009)
>
> *4* Ms. Holly Smith, "Comments written by registered user purplehayes76",
> The Internet Movie Database (IMDb),
> http://www.imdb.com/user/ur1945140/comments (accessed March 18, 2009)
>
> *5* "Dee doody doom doom, dee doody doom doom, dee doody doom doom,
> DOOM."
>
> P.S. Jay and/or Joel over there on Bush St. west of Van Ness, And who else?
> Who else? There is one more name not accounted for. You have twelve names:
> Paul America, Susan Bottomly, Ann Buchanan, Freddy Herko, Jane Holzer,
> Dennis Hopper, Billy Name, Nico, Richard Rheem, Lou Reed, Edie Sedgwick,
> Ingrid Superstar and ... and who is the last one? Would it be Barbara Rubin
> by any strange twist of fate?
>
> __________________________________________________________________ For info
> on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
>
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.