“To be able to connect with another soul, another being, begins with the most simple, the purest, and most beautiful of all connections~~ a loving kiss.” ~ETY, 6/10/2010
Part One: A Kiss Is But A Kiss~ Segment 1: What I did on my summer vacation to Sao Rafael, Portugal
Soul meets soul on lovers’ lips. ~Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound
See! the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea: –
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?
~Percy Bysshe Shelley, Love’s Philosophy
Another labor of my love, paying loving tribute to the films of Bel Ami and its beauties. This is actually half of Part One of the mega-video tribute I’m planning for BA’s films and beauties. The whole tribute is entitled “In Praise of Eros” and the attached part would be the actual second half of the first part, “A Kiss Is But A Kiss”. My original concept was to have the whole part released as a single long movie, similar to the one I did for my Raging Stallion tribute to their Grabby nominated films. But seeing as I was able to complete this one first I decided to released it now. Love these beach scenes, and I simply can’t get enough of them. And nothing to me is more romantic or beautiful than love on a secluded hideaway at the beach. Hey, it’s summer after all. If the mood strikes and if you can find a secluded spot to let your inhibitions run riot, why the hell not indulge yourself in the pleasures someone else can give you and you return the loving gesture in kind?
Notes on the music:
Once again, my muse was smiling on me and helped me decide on the perfect music for this important part of my tribute. These two are old friends and I wanted to use this music but the moment wasn’t right…now it is.
I’ve been a fan of Siouxsie and the Banshees since I first heard their music back when I was teenager. One summer, when I was going to begin high school, I spent much of my days playing music in my brother’s room. It would be the first time being without him and feeling lonely for him, I listened to the music that he liked, and very soon I did as well, I didn’t feel as alone anymore. The lead vocalist for that band had formed a side project called The Creatures with her husband, Budgie. This music is some of the most sensual and interesting to come out of the 80’s era of music, largely due to the sensuality of Siouxsie Sioux’s voice and the music provided by Budgie. “Venus Sands” from their cd Boomerang fit in with the first part of the video in an almost serendipitous way. I haven’t heard this music in quite a while until I started to look for music for this tribute. When I listened to this track based on title alone…must confess…the ocean sounds in the music and birds…I thought oh, wow! I found the perfect musical backdrop for all these gorgeous BA beach scenes. I hope you agree it works too. 🙂
The song “Dance With You” from one of our PA local bands (Lehigh Valley to be exact..not too far from here in Philadelphia) who made it big, Live, is a very old friend and I was waiting for just the right moment to use this song. Perhaps used in the wrong context because it’s not a straight love song in a romantic way…it’s a song about coming to find inner peace within yourself…coming to love yourself in a spiritual way. But I sort of took it in a literal sense for this…I pictured Lukas as our “island king of love”…taking poetic license as I usually do. Just the overall feeling that is conveyed when these scenes are viewed, especially the very closing shot…is what BA is all about for me and I wanted to close out the first part of the tribute video with this song and with this very brief but beautifully touching pose/shot…it’s perfectly beautiful.
All video clips taken from Frisky Summer 2: Sebastian, (D.O.P 8/1996), Dir. George Duroy.
Music clips: Venus Sands, The Creatures, taken from Boomerang; Dance With You, Live, taken from The Distance From Here.
All the video and music clips used in this video are the sole property of the copyright holders and no copyright infringement is intended.