Merry afternoon to you, or whatever time you exist in. I continued my experiment with mouth noises by talking about weird and interesting books I’ve read.
Everything mentioned:
Laura Lee Bahr, Angel Meat
Matt Payne, Robot God/Hybrid Brain
Andrew J Lambie, Carnival Of The Flesh
Junji Ito, Snow White
Hello my little carts before the horse, I’ve still got a ton of editing to do so here are some original, silent Surrealist and Dada films. Toodle pip!
Entr’acte (1924)
Directed by Rene Clair (though multiple people worked on the project), this was first shown during the intermission of a Swedish ballet at the Theater of Champs Elysées in Paris. Erik Satie provided the music for this and the ballet on the night.
Jujiro (1928)
Directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa, Jujiro (Crossroads) was the most successful Japanese export to the West before Rashomon. Kinugasa belonged to the Dada and Surrealist influenced art collective Shinkankakuha (New Sensationalists).
I couldn’t find a copy with English subtitles, sorry!
The Life and Death of 9413 A Hollywood Extra (1928)
I’m fascinated by the dark side of Hollywood (aren’t we all?) so this might be my favourite. Directed by Robert Florey and Slavko Vorkapić, the film was inspired by Florey’s own Hollywood experiences and features early use of Vorkapić’s film-making invention, the montage. Made in America, it was very successful.
The Seashell And The Clergyman (1928)
Touted now as the first surrealist film, Germaine Dulac’s film was overshadowed at the time by Un Chien Andalou, made a year later, and was not well received. Dulac’s films often featured feminist themes.
Emak Bakia (1926)
Man Ray is one of my favourite surrealists, possibly because of his amazing fashion photos. Kiki of Montparnasse (Alice Prin) makes an appearance, the artist’s model, nightclub singer, memoirist, painter and all round fabulous 1920s bohemian. Emak Bakia means Leave Me Alone in Basque.
Merry holidays one and all! I’m going to take two weeks off after today but, never fear, I shall leave you with the wonderful words of some of my favourite writers.
Lately I’ve been doing a series of story readings called The Onesie Tales in which I read whilst wearing full length pajamas and no make up. There’s no massive reasoning behind this other than my pajamas are very comfortable and I’m quite lazy. I’ll be continuing this in the New Year so if you’d like to join me subscribe to my youtube channel to be notified of the next one.
In the meantime here are readings of surrealists Leonora Carrington, Haruki Murakami, Algonquin Round Table wit Dorothy Parker and Gothic weird lady Daphne du Maurier. Enjoy!
P.S. The ending of the first video is very embarrassing. I didn’t realise I was still recording and I talk in a silly voice to my boyfriend Bill and look for my glasses like a drunk aunt at Christmas.
My tiny (10,000 word) surreal, bizarro, weird and any other adjective erotica novelette was released today with New Kink. Sometimes I get the urge to write rude things and, being me, they end up just as odd as the usual stuff.
P.S. My artistic partner in crime and cuddles Bill Purnell did the front cover, he’s a very clever pickle.
Here’s the Amazon link.
New Kink proudly presents…
Before you get too excited, let’s give this video a shot. The beloved Sauda Namir reads an excerpt for us in a series called Bizarro Bedtime.
Bizarro Bedtime: S3 E4: Madeleine Swann from Sauda Namir on Vimeo.
With a gorgeous cover from artist Bill Purnell, and a lot of kink packed in a small package, let’s see what she’s about.
“Lillia Gardens is the largest erotic resort in several dimensions. It’s home to colourful flora, weird creatures and time travelling visitors, all ready and willing to get filthy – like Wonderland or Oz but smuttier.
Each story follows a woman from a different era who recieves a mysterious card inviting them to the Gardens, including Sam, a modern Western woman in a failing relationship; Aysun, a member of a Sultan’s harem and Itzel, a Mayan princess. Overseen by their mysterious guide Rex, a rainbow half-man half-bird, they experience all the strange and wonderful things the resort has to offer from vagina seats in the park to a sensory depriving tube.
But it can’t be sunshine and orgasms for everybody, and the Garden needs payment…”
Good morning sandwich relishes! I’ll just leave you with this half hour video of the Bauhaus Ballet, or Triadic Ballet as it was more commonly known. It’s truly weird and wonderful!
Here’s some background information on the ‘most widely performed avant-garde artistic dance’ which was developed by Oskar Schlemmer.
My bowl of love Bill Purnell did this adorable doodle for my surreal advice column Ask Maddie to go on my website. He does web design, book covers and commissioned art and graphics, just contact him. Also read the bio on his website, it’s hilarious.
Why not ask me the most surreal, the weirdest, most horror inspired question you can think of? Just follow this link.
Enjoy this post I wrote for The New Bizarro Author Blog, it involved many an hour of happiness and crisp eating. 
Well hello there, so glad you could join me. Pull up a chair. Sorry, am I sitting too close? I don’t mean to, it’s just that your hair is so wildly attractive.
I’m researching surrealist films for my next post, and by researching I mean lying on my bed and watching a bunch of stuff whilst eating crisps. However, for now, you can contact me in my new advice column for Clash magazine. That’s right, you can contact me and I’ll stick your name beneath your question. I know, you’ll be waking in the night with excitement.
Here’s the link to all the columns so far. If you’ve any questions, surreal or not (preferably surreal), email me at evilpixie (dot) madeleine (at) gmail (dot) com with the subject line Ask Maddie. Toodle pip!
Hello my tiny emblems of creative pride!
Next week I shall be the busiest I have been since the last time I was really busy so, to make up for the fact that I may not be able to post, I shall share with you a documentary on Surrealist Cinema that was shown on the BBC in 1987 for a series called Arena. If you haven’t watched the others you should; there’s a great one on silent actress Louise Brooks and another on Japanese writer Yukio Mishima and his bizarre end. I am fascinated by a bizarre end, I can’t help it.
I notice he possibly didn’t have time to include Bunuel or Un Chien Andalou, but you can’t include everything.
So, here it is: David Lynch on Surrealist Cinema:
Legendary bohemian and erotic diarist Anais Nin was interviewed in 1972. Enjoy her ponderings on Swallow Press, Henry Miller, her experimental film-making husband Ian Hugo (a pseudonym) and various other artistic types. Also have a peek at this article containing a film of her reading over spacey electronic music, Bells of Atlantis.
Here she reads from her diary (the version without the rude bits)
Madeleine Swann 