From the great, great Portuguese author Jose Saramago’s amazing novel All The Names comes this passage that echoes very closely Philip K. Dick’s formulation of kipple mentioned before: “There are people like Senhor Jose everywhere, who fill their time, or what they believe to be their spare time, by collecting stamps, coins, medals, vases, postcards, matchboxes, books, clocks, sport shirts, autographs…

[Read more →]

Giallo is the Italian equivalent of pulp fiction + film noir, though, being Italian, sexier. And more lurid. Here’s how Wikipedia defines it:

Giallo (plural gialli) is an Italian 20th century genre of literature and film, which in Italian indicates crime fiction and mystery. In the English language, however, it is used in a broader meaning that is closer to the French fantastique genre, including elements of horror fiction and eroticism. The word giallo is Italian for “yellow” (see Wiktionary: giallo) and stems from the origin of the genre as a series of cheap paperback novels with trademark yellow covers.

Giallo Fever, written by Edinburgh-based “PhD student and self-employed computer guy” Keith Brown, is a great blog devoted to all things Giallo. I especially appreciate Mr. Brown’s in-depth analysis, accompanied by a fantastic assortment of screen shots, of many very obscure films that I and probably most people in the United States have never heard of. As an example, check out Mr. Brown’s post…

[Read more →]