I’m posting this missive under “Occult” as anyone who’s ever seen footage of Ayrton Senna driving knows he was travelling on another plane.

Last week, on what would have been the F1 driver’s 54th birthday, Senna was honored with a Google Doodle — kind of. Jalopnik explains:

Over the past two days, you may have noticed an illustration of Ayrton Senna on your Google homepage. If you did, it’s because you live in Brazil, New Zealand, Russia, Kenya, Turkey Croatia, and Guatemala… It almost seems random, who got the Senna Doodle and who didn’t. Finland got it, but Sweden and Norway did not. Malaysia and Romania got it. Chile and Argentina did not, but Colombia had it. Even some real die-hard, F1 loving countries like Germany, France and the United Kingdom didn’t get it…And guess what? My home country, the United States, didn’t get it, but our neighbors and NAFTA pals Canada and Mexico both did. (Canada had it in both languages!)

I think Senna deserved one, is all. The Google Doodles, an artistic rendering of the typical logo with a clickable link to whatever they’re about, have a history of highlighting interesting and important but maybe not obvious or extremely well-known figures. People like Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; existentialist writer and actvist Simone de Beauvoir; and computer scientist and U.S. Navy admiral Grace Hopper are a few examples…

Senna wasn’t an ordinary racing driver. A three-time world champion, his well of natural talent, incredible skills at the limit, and hyper-aggressive driving style makes him rank among the greatest drivers in F1 history, and maybe even THE greatest driver, according to a lot of people. 9P And Senna was more than just a guy famous for driving — and by “driving,” I mean stunning, flat out battles with rivals like Alain Prost during what some consider to be the golden age of modern F1. During his career he rose to national hero status in his native Brazil, becoming one of the few points of pride for a country hammered by poverty and corruption.

He was a devoted humanitarian and devout Catholic, too, the kind who actually lived his faith. As per his wishes, his family established the Instituto Ayrton Senna in his honor, which has done a considerable amount of good for young people in Brazil.

Today, he remains one of the most recognizable names and faces in the world of F1. Asif Kapadia’s brilliant documentary about his life, Senna, not only serves to memorialize his career but also serves as a gateway drug to the sport for a lot of people. Want someone to watch a race with you? Show them that movie. Then they’ll get it.

Good suggestion. Watch SENNA right here…

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The film Salò is set in Fascist-occupied Italy in 1944. It tells the story of what happens when a Duke, a Bishop, a Magistrate and a President take 18 adolescent boys and girls captive and travel to a remote palace. What follows is one of the most extreme sociopolitical criticisms ever committed to film. Based on the book 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade, the four wealthy men spend the next four months exposing their helpless captives to extreme violence, sadism, sexual and mental torture. Wiki’s matter-of-fact summation of the film’s debut is laughingly blunt:

Because of its scenes depicting intensely graphic violence, sadism and sexual depravity, the film was extremely controversial upon its release, and remains banned in several countries.

Although the movie is not generally categorized as a horror film, Salò was named the 65th scariest film ever made by the Chicago Film Critics Association in 2006. It’s also the subject of an article in The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural. Even spookier — Salò was the director’s last movie: He was mysteriously murdered after making the film.

While Salò′s 1975 premiere created shock waves, connoisseurs of director Pier Paolo Pasolini’s work might have been less shocked – the director’s earliest films were full of controversial content that found Pasolini at odds with government officials in Italy. His first efforts also displayed the unusual methods and preoccupations that would define his cinematic oeurve: the use of non-professional actors; an empathetic preoccupation with impoverished characters and settings; and a poetic understanding of the sacred nature of images. Pasolini was also the author of 25 novels and half-a-dozen books of poetry.

This 1966 episode of the French TV series Cinema of Our Time features an interview with Pasolini talking about his first films, offering illuminating insights regarding poetry, cinema, politics, aesthetics, philosophy and class.

“Pasolini: The Rebel”

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