Michelangelo Antonioni died yesterday. I’m always somewhat at a loss when asked to name my favorite films but Blow-Up is right up there. David Hemmings is luminous and the sense of atmosphere in the swinging 60’s is nonpareil. If you haven’t seen the Yardbirds segment with Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page (on bass) above, it’s a treat. The scene with Jane Birkin (she of the eponymous Hermes bag, which as Christy notes says nothing so much as “I’m having sex with a major sports figure” and is weirdly carried by Barbara Comstock) was also shocking for its time.   Those with a deep and abiding hatred of dirty fucking hippies are probably just bitter about being left out of all the fun.

In an odd moment of simultaneity, Ingmar Bergman also died yesterday.