K as in Knife

Unknown quantities, resonant frequencies, moving parts, and everything in between. Chosen and obsessively annotated by C. Mason Wells. New here? Hit random and go exploring. c.mason.wells [at] gmail.com twitter.com/cmasonwells

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LA SONATE À KREUTZER (1956, Eric Rohmer) / WOMAN ON THE BEACH (2006, Hong Sang-soo)

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Sade / Renata Adler

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From Elvira 't Hart, a lasercut jacket whose design emulates the lines of sketches

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From designer Mathilde Lesueur, an intricate chart of the relationships inEric Rohmer's great PAULINE AT THE BEACH.

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Note from the late filmmaker Tony Scott to New York Times critic Manohla Dargis.

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From How To Create Cartoons (1952), a charming and riotous instructional book by the legendary Frank Tashlin.

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From Ron Miller, original concept art for David Cronenberg's version of TOTAL RECALL, a project that was aborted and later given to Paul Verhoeven

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25 kinds of men's shirt collars, from famed Hong Kong shirtmakers Ascot Chang

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The contract signed by Dr. Aldo Santorum and Catherine D. Santorum (Rick's parents!) to help fund Shirley Clarke's seminal independent film THE CONNECTION (1962).

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Inspiration board for the great menswear designer/retailer Sid Mashburn

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Comment card from a test screening for David Cronenberg's brilliant VIDEODROME

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Elmore Leonard's 10 rules of writing, via The Trad

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Between 1980 and 1984, photographer Barbara Crane used a Super Speed Graphic camera and Polaroid film to document the summer festivals in Chicago. The snapshots don't provide the same nostalgia trip as Michael Galinsky's mall photos, but instead focus on small intimate moments in tightly cropped, intense close-up, dynamic portraits of arms and hands and bodies conjoined in the summer heat.

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After the infamous failure of his film maudit musical AT LONG LAST LOVE, Peter Bogdanovich took out the above half-page open letter in the Hollywood Reporter. It's (understandably) the stuff of legend. Thanks to Joseph Pomp for digging it up.

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Teenage females, in close-up

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Andy Warhol's shoes

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Fun on Mars (1971), Sally Cruikshank

Thanks to the indispensable Anthology Film Archives in New York, I discovered Cruikshank's underground animated work last night, and my head is still reeling 12 hours later. Cruikshank fell into animation her senior year at Smith (where she made the stunning Ducky) and proceeded to create several other trippy, delirious, whimsical, riotously funny shorts. Her cult reputation led to a flirtation with the mainstream -- she created the credit sequences for a few Hollywood pictures (including Mannequin and Ruthless People) and animated songs for Sesame Street. But it's her original work that retains the most power; her wild and wonderful vision is still completely sui generis.