from THE SKY PARLOR afterthoughts

Soon after the publication of from THE ATTIC, lost photos... I did a second version and created from THE SKY PARLOR, found photos. My thoughts remain the same. 

I had just come off the publication of two gorgeously produced books and then I created from THE ATTIC, lost photos. I was presenting what I believed to be a focused and clearly selected group of depictions that was different and in some ways startling. 

Recently, I considered other personal works. The film THE FABELMANS is based on the memories Steven Spielberg has of his parents. It is his intimate story. It is not singularly interesting because it is the insightful work of a famous artist who is allowing us to peek into his past. It is engaging because it speaks to great themes and is excellently crafted. THE SILENT TWINS is a brilliant film based on a true story and PRODIGAL SONS is the amazing story of the grandson of Orson Welles. Even the small particular real life sagas of unknowns can be equally fascinating such as PHYLLIS AND HAROLD and 51 BIRCH STREET. While I was happy that readers would relate to my book and be inspired to dust off their own family albums, I believed my book was broader than just a presentation of my own relatives' portraits. I thought it would have interest on another specific level. And it was that other track that developed problems.

I loved my third book. Even though my old pictures lacked crisp clarity, I could get around that within a newly defined "blurry aesthetic." I did not want them anyway to be evaluated in terms of how clear the images are, but rather to be viewed as hazy photos in the way time itself fades away and becomes dim. But in my thoughts, I kept returning to what I thought was the most amazing part of the book but which also presented as a huge roadblock in my ability to promote the book. I was thwarted within all moves because of the DMCA. 

My book is a careful selection of my personal pictures and many of the images have a curious uncanny resemblance to famous photos of well known photographers and the art of a famous painter. I believed that was what made my book unique. It is not simply a scrapbook or family album. The photos have an eery visual parallel to prominent pictures and for that I felt my book deserved to be noticed and is what I believe makes it visually interesting. 

The sad part is I was unable to display the comparisons due to copyright laws. I could not “piggyback” off the work of others to specifically promote my book in any way so to clarify my purpose here in this blog entry: this piece is not an ad created to market my book or mounted for any agenda to further monetary gain. I publish this under an umbrella of scholarship and criticism for the purpose of presenting a series of strange flukes that I think will interest observers of the bizarre. I feel these coincidences should be noted and seen. The difficult part is to present the similarities without copyright infringement. Any author can feel his writing is similar to the style of a more notable author. Critics compare authors all the time. In art, transformative work is permitted under "fair use." I am allowed to believe the conclusion that the snapshots I own are similar to the photos of famous photographers. I just cannot display the images to support my opinion. And that is a huge caveat that definitely can impact any interest level in the actual book.

This is a piece created so the viewer can ponder the coincidences within an educational point of view. In some cases, the pictures were startlingly taken years before the famous photos. In order that there be no copyright infringement here, I left out the precise works of the notable artists in a visual comparison and just named the photographers whose works in a strange way appear visually similar to the images in my book. 

There is a photo below that shows a "joker" who saw remains in 1939 on the side of the road and created an almost offensive and shocking photo around the object because that was who she was. I included my authentic pictures because I wanted to go with truth... 

And that is what makes the curated collection of photos in this blog entry and in my book unique and I hope remarkable. Sometimes, a certain ride needs just the right specific closure. So here you have it... a companion piece to from THE ATTIC which I hope shines a light on a more focused view. 

The irony: what I feel is almost the total reason for why I created the book presents as the biggest obstacle to publicizing the book and I just cannot get around that. 

On the left are my photos and next to each image is the name of the famous photographer whose work is visually similar. 

above photo courtesy of Frederick Piccarello

and 3 more from the attic:

Alan Berliner, filmmaker and media artist

This blog is dedicated to the filmmaker Alan Berliner who in 2009 inspired these blogs. 

UPDATE in an encore, from October 2009:

photo credit: Marjorie J. Levine 2009

My interview today with Alan Berliner was different from any other that came before. Alan Berliner is the filmmaker who two years ago invited me to join an NYU class on film archiving that was visiting his lower Manhattan studio. The specific purpose of my visit was to discuss a possible solution for the preservation of my old family photos. During the class discussion, Alan suggested I post the photos to the internet where they would be saved and available to any viewers who might discover the site. And shortly thereafter my memoir in a blog, marjorie-pentimentos, began. Today, Alan called my visit to the class an "intervention."

Many months ago when I began marjorie-digest, I asked Alan if he would be interviewed by me for this blog. He thought it would be worthwhile if I again joined another class from NYU and talked about my experience of two years ago and how the process was suggested in a concept during the first visit. Alan requested that I arrive early and that would give us a chance to talk. I was excited and I looked forward to today. I had no idea that the interview that I had intended to be about Alan would somehow morph into an interview about me!

We began and I told Alan that on Sunday many of the descendants of my great-grandparents, Abraham Levine and Goldie Benjamin, gathered at a restaurant in Manhattan for a family reunion. I told Alan that I expecially loved watching the family home movies from around 1952 that were brought by my cousin, Allen. As I talked about Sunday, I slowly began a stream-of-consciousness about so many different topics I felt somehow as if I was going to places that should never have left the imaginative confines of my own head.

And Alan sat there taking notes. He asked just the right questions to bring me to these personal places that were bittersweet and emotional. I talked and talked... about reincarnation, and quantum physics, and consciousness, and past lives, and memories. When I talked about time travel, I think my mind was on that train longing for "Willoughby" where I could enjoy the comforts of the past.

I talked about my life in retirement and my life... and I even spoke about my OCD. I just kept talking and talking... and dialogue flowed (probably from my subconscious) about personal feelings, old family photos, and home movies. I told Alan I love home movies because they are the closest thing to time travel we will ever get. The conversation was layered at times with fantasy, and imagination, and wishful thinking. And Alan kept writing.

He was able to somehow make me want to become nostalgic and share thoughts on so many things... when I was there to be the listener and learn more about him! I was embarrassed and I apologized to Alan that the interview became about me. He waved his hand and seemed to not care and said something like "Maybe I wanted to do that."

And this must be why he is a phenomenal filmmaker. He has this uncanny and kind ability to inspire people to be real and in a defenseless and in a very unguarded way to discover meaningful feelings.

Well, I had to temporarily shut-up because the class arrived and Alan played some very interesting and engaging sound effects for them and then they sat in a circle while I was asked to speak about the birth of my blog. And I did.

Alan inspires me to want to be a better "keeper of the memories." If after I contacted him two years ago Alan had not graciously invited me to meet with him, all my "stuff" probably would have one day been lost forever in a Staten Island landfill. That makes me sad. It makes me sad because one of my personal treasures is a letter that was written by my grandmother to my mother in about 1929. It appears in my memoir in this entry with a poem I wrote in 1992 which developed from some of my feelings about that letter... maybe sentimental memorabilia is in a sense a "madeleine."

In "Synecdoche, New York," the writer Charlie Kaufman ends the film with a monologue: "Now, it is waiting, and nobody cares. And when your wait is over, this room will still exist, and it will continue to hold shoes, and dresses, and boxes. And maybe someday, another waiting person. And maybe not. The room doesn't care either..."

Alan cares and I am on Alan's wave-length. And maybe there is a large group of total strangers who share these thoughts about time and the passing of time and the importance of, as Alan said, "saving pieces of individual lives" even in small scale ways.

At his website Alan has a link to his articles, essays, and journals. Please read his essay, "Gathering Stones." Alan showed me the way to help my own "orphaned photos" find a home.

And in his journal piece "Nobody's Business," Alan writes: "But yes, it is me who returns to visit -- not any of their children, their grandchildren, or any (other) of their great-grandchildren. Just me."

And so I realize that I had forgotten to tell Alan that on infrequent down days when I have little to do, I ride to the still-standing buildings in Brooklyn where I once lived. It seems to be always gloomy and raining on those days. But even on bright sunny days, I think about the homes and the times inside those homes. My mind wanders and I can still hear my mother calling me, at 5:30 PM, for "supper." Sometimes, when I arrive at one house... I park my car slightly down the street, and look at the outside of the window in the room where I once lay in bed at night, so long ago, listening to the sounds of whooshing cars as they passed while I watched their shadows dancing on my bedroom wall. And I still visit my grandmother's house in Bensonhurst.

Alan Berliner is a creative award-winning filmmaker. You can learn more about him and his work by clicking on the links below.

UPDATED, MAY 2020... THE LINKS BELOW ARE INACTIVE, they will remain now for reference purposes only

bio

films

The Sweetest Sound

Nobody's Business

Intimate Stranger

The Family Album

Wide Awake

Short Films

online Interviews:
POV - The Sweetest Sound

San Francisco Film Festival: Wide Awake

my interview with Robert Siegel, writer and director

Here is my interview from 2009 with Robert Siegel...

photo credit: Marjorie J. Levine © 2009

This interview with Robert Siegel (the writer of many films including The Wrestler) began on a Thursday evening at a Chelsea diner. And we concluded the interview the following day, on a muggy Friday Manhattan night in the same diner. So, this was my first two-part interview. I was excited and happy.

Robert was editor-in-chief of "The Onion" from 1996 to 2003... when it was in it's original phase as a Madison, Wisconsin publication. The editor of "The Onion" when Robert arrrived was Ben Karlin, who later left to join "The Daily Show" as executive producer. He was followed by David Javerbaum, who is still the executive producer of "The Onion" and he wrote the music for the Broadway show, "Crybaby."

In 2001, "The Onion" moved to new headquarters in New York City. And shortly thereafter Robert began writing "The Wrestler." Robert explained that the process of creating a film is a long one. It can sometimes take five years from "script to screen." But Robert knew from the beginning that Mickey Rourke was "ideal" for this film and he wrote "The Wrestler" with Mickey Rourke in mind. Robert knew he would be just perfect for this part. Robert wanted to create a compelling character and story. Yet, he realizes the story is both sad and emotional. And throughout, there are many scenes in the film that show the character's great and extreme loneliness with moments of so much sweetness.

The audience knows at the end of the film that "The Ram" will not last long after he makes a decision to go back into the ring. He has made a decision to die. It was the director's decision to end the film with a freeze frame... to perhaps leave the final moments without a closure.

I think there are huge emotional moments in "The Wrestler" and it was Robert Siegel from whose fingers this heartbreaking film began and... he indeed created the film which gave Mickey Rourke his "comeback." Robert was nominated for a WGA award in the category of "original screenplay" for the film.

We moved on to a discussion of "Big Fan," the film which Robert wrote and directed and which will premiere at BAM on June 19th as part of the Next Wave Festival. In the film, Patton Oswalt plays Paul Aufiero, a loner who is obsessed with the Giants and he spends much of his time calling in to a sports radio show. For this role, Patton Oswalt won the award for "Best Actor" at the Method Festival. Robert describes Paul as a "Marty" or "Rupert Pupkin"... and perhaps "Big Fan" is the "King of Comedy" of sports movies. I asked Robert if he personally knows any of these "obsessive nerds" and he said he based the character on his imagination. But we have all had experiences which make us lonely and we all share basic human emotions and it is those feelings which Robert hopes to bring to film. "Big Fan" will open on August 28th.

Well, another interview had ended. As darkness was falling, the sidewalks were still packed with people and the streets were crowded with busy traffic congestion. I started thinking as I began the walk home. People weave in and out of our lives.... but I have known Robert for several years, and tonight I continued to be impressed by Robert's sincerity, integrity, openness, and warmth.

ETA in 2023: 

Robert is the creator of Pam & Tommy:

He is also the creator of Welcome to Chippendales:

DECONSTRUCTING DELUSIONS

 “We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are” — Anaïs Nin. 

I began Delusions by thinking Cazzie must have collected some great karma in her past lives to be born as “Cazzie David” and to be part of “The Lucky Sperm Club” and be part of a privileged group of nepo babies who never have to struggle to get their endeavors noticed. But deeper into the soul of the book, as I peeled away the layers of her essays which are filled with tongue-in-cheek humor and esoteric angst, I began to contemplate and relate to the pieces in very personal ways. And I was triggered as if I took a bite into a madeleine. Memories came flooding back.

Cazzie references The Vineyard and I went to summer camp on Martha’s Vineyard from 1959 to 1962. I never saw so much annoying cloying seaweed in water at an extremely uncomfortable rocky beach. Cazzie watches Gilmore Girls to calm down and I watch Match Game with Gene Rayburn on Buzzr. Cazzie is attached to her phone and I am addicted to my land line with 3 way calling. She references Venmo and Tik Tok. I still write checks and watched videos on Betamax. I do not take Prozac, I take Losartan. Cazzie uses many buzz words typical of her generation like “rage quit” and “catfish” and I was catfished! She talks about the color Blueberry Milk and I recalled how I wore Fire and Ice. The book should be in a time capsule for visitors from other planets to read in the far off future because it provides so much insight into the Millennial culture the way Good-bye Columbus, saddle shoes, and Doo-wop music defines Boomers.

I felt like Joanna Harcourt-Smith as I moved along and got deeper into the content. While reading this book, I began to have lucid dreams about hanging out in NYC with my new “BFF bestie” Cazzie and having matcha lattes and later going for Carvel. In my fantasy, we were becoming a new version of Harold and Maude while enjoying egg creams at Eisenberg’s and in the park she might teach me Wordle and after that I could engage her in Pisha Paysha.

I loved this book and even dog-eared pages so I could read some content again because I stopped watching ASMR videos when some of the parts in this book became so much better ways to reduce my stress. Cazzie writes: “Like, the front lines of social media.” I can’t stop laughing.

I am giving it an honest 5 stars because these essays worked for me, and I was born in 1947 and will soon be 80. What a “trip!” 

OMG. Yay.

THE MEMORY ON FLETCHER AVENUE THAT STICKS WITH ME

then: 

and now:

A VIEW OF A SNOWSTORM THROUGH A WINDOW SCREEN

THREE DINERS

 The Skyway Diner in Kearny, NJ

Wythe Avenue Diner Brooklyn, NY

Hector's Diner Manhattan, NY

Let's Celebrate!