Thursday, 2. October 2008, 13:15:57
Culture, Movies, Music
The rather intimidating Catherine Weaver
of The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
I was watching an episode of The Sarah Connor Chronicles the week
before last, the season premier of the show, when I came across a face
that seemed very familiar. I had never watched the show before that, or
looked into it on its web site or whatever, and knew pretty much nothing
about it other than the obvious fact that it was a Terminator spinoff.
The actress who had caught my attention plays the character of Catherine
Weaver on the show. She has red hair, is definitely a fox, and has this cold
and vaguely threatening air about her. In fact I find her more intimidating
than any of the evil androids on the show. Between an evil android who
can crush your skull in two seconds or a redhead giving you "that look,"
I would prefer the evil android. In any case, to present that type of
character well takes some pretty good acting ability as well. And as I
mentioned, she looked very familiar. There was just something about that
face.
So I found the show's web site and looked her up. Turns out the actress
is Shirley Manson, singer for the rock group Garbage. And in fact I had
just seen her and that group in 2007 on a segment of Soundstage.
They say that the grass is always greener on the other side of the hill.
And in fact it seems that many musicians want to try the movie thing,
and many actors or actresses are drawn to the music thing. Which isn't
all that surprising. Most actors and actresses grew up listening to music
and, like most of us, wished they were a rock and roll star or whatever.
Just as a lot of musicians grew up watching movies and television shows,
and I'm sure thought about what it might be like to be in front of the
camera.
The list of these crossover gigs would be a long one. You have people
like David Bowie and Mick Jagger being featured in the occasional movie.
Some musicians, like Frank Sinatra or Elvis Presley, became serious
actors in their own right. Johnny Depp started out as a musician also,
though he didn't have all that much of a track record as one before he
got into television and film.
And then you have the actors and actresses who have gotten into music,
or at least who have tried to. This would be another fairly long list. The
one that pops into my head first, probably because I was just looking up
some information on him a couple of weeks ago, was actor Telly Savalas.
Savalas took his famous Super-Greek persona that was developed on the
Kojack series and managed to work it into a rather successful music career
that included a couple of albums and a few songs that made the charts.
Occasionally, you have someone who inhabits both worlds simultaneously
pretty much from the start. The one I think of most in terms of this was
Judy Garland. Bing Crosby also comes to mind. It's fairly difficult to really
separate Crosby's musical career from his film career. And of course there
were others.
Since the early 80s and the rise of MTV, the music world has become
tremendously video oriented. In fact it's almost impossible for a new
artist to break in these days without doing a music video. So today,
the two worlds are linked even closer.
Well, it's certainly great seeing Shirley again on the show. Though that
doesn't mean that I wouldn't like to see Garbage come out of their "hiatus"
and do a new album.
And incidentally, I thought that there was some very interesting trivia
about Shirley listed on the Internet Movie Database. You might check it
out.
Shirley Manson in her Garbage days.
Friday, 26. September 2008, 18:52:34
The Four Seasons, Movies
The crew of the starship Enterprise try to figure
out how to buy a newspaper in Star Trek IV.
Last night I got in bed and propped myself up on my nice new big comfy
pillow and, after a brief amount of channel surfing, ended up watching
a movie -- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986).
The movie was directed and in the main written by Leonard Nimoy. The
plot summary as given by the Internet Movie Database runs "To save Earth
from an alien probe, Kirk and his crew go back in time to retrieve the
only beings who can communicate with it, humpback whales." And that's
pretty much it. Nothing really complicated, just go back in time, pick
yourself up a couple of huge-ass whales, bring them back to your own
time period, and thus save the Earth from total destruction. Hell, the
crew of the starship Enterprise do that kind of stuff almost on a weekly
basis. In fact, between 1966 and 1969 they did do it on a weekly basis.
In case you haven't figured out from the plot summary, this movie is
unabashedly 80s style tree-hugger, environmentalist, save-the-whales
propaganda. Which is perfectly all right. I myself don't mind that kind
of thing. Although Dr. Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks) does deliver a
lecture at the whale aquarium that I probably could have done without.
I suppose they threw that one in for kids who might not have been reading
all the latest on the subject. And in any case I didn't mind Dr. Taylor
nearly as much what with her feathered hair and semi-clingy blouses worn
with no bra and her perky little ones pushing out. God, do I miss the
80s.
One of the great things about this Star Trek is the humor thrown into it.
There are a lot of good lines. Like Chekov running around San Francisco
asking everyone in a markedly Russian accent "Which vay to the nuclear
wessels?" It was still the Cold War back then. Hilarious. And perhaps
another favorite of mine, Kirk saying "Uhura, open a channel and search
for whales." I don't think that one was really supposed to be funny, but
it was regardless. And there are other good bits that I won't mention for
those three or four of you on the planet who haven't seen the movie yet.
I saw the movie when it came out, with my mom, in Tempe, Arizona.
I asked her if she would like to go see it, and to my surprise she said
yes. So we got together one afternoon and went down to the mini-mall just
off the Arizona State University campus and saw it. Then we stopped in
at a little shop and I looked at a pair of Rayban sunglasses -- always
a needed accessory in Tempe. Then we stopped in at a bar for a couple
of drinks and laughed together remembering scenes from the movie.
Me and my mom didn't see another movie together until 2004 when we
went to see The Passion of the Christ. And trust me -- if you have a choice
between making a pitcher of Margaritas and putting The Passion of the
Christ or Star Trek IV into your DVD player, pick the later. Even if
you've seen it. Especially if, like me, you haven't seen it in a long while.
Some things just wear well with time. And this Star Trek movie is one
of them.
Don't, don't you want me
You know I don't believe you when you
Say that you don't need me
Friday, 12. September 2008, 19:32:22
Shakespeare, Movies
WARNING, Plot spoiler: Almost everybody dies!
LOL.
JULIET
For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.
ROMEO
Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
JULIET
Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
ROMEO
O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;
They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
JULIET
Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.
ROMEO
Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take.
Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged.
[they kiss]
My favorite scene from my favorite play, Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliette. Oh, I know, there are at least a
dozen others that are equally worthy -- both plays and scenes
-- but everyone has their favorite, and this one is mine.
The classic movie version of the play is Zeffirelli's 1968
version with Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey. It would
be tough to equal that one. But over the past year I've managed
to catch the much newer version with Leonardo DiCaprio
as Romeo and Claire Danes as Juliette several times. That
version is in the line of modern versions of Shakespeare
which bring the story a bit up into more recent times --
with the Montagues and the Capulets in that one being rival
crime families. And the surprising thing is how well it works.
Which goes to show you how flexible the great classics can be,
how universal.
I suppose it's only natural that I got to thinking about who
I would want if I were to do the play, if I were a famous
Hollywood director with enough clout to get anybody he
wanted in the roles. I haven't got it all figured out yet.
But here are the ones I would like to see.
MERCUTIO: Liam Neeson
This is my favorite role in Shakespeare. Mercutio is a
friend of Romeo's, but more in the sense of an older,
wise friend -- a mentor to the younger man. He is cynical
and poetic, and given to puns. His soliloquy to Queen Maab
is one of the greatest passages in Shakespeare's canon. And
I think Liam Neeson fits this bill perfectly. He certainly
has the acting talent for it, and I can picture him lying
there in the street, saying "Ask for me tomorrow, and you
will find me a grave man" with just a touch of a smile on
his face.
ROMEO: Joaquin Phoenix
I had a lot of trouble with this one. Both Romeo and Juliette
are supposed to be young lovers -- perhaps very young. And I
simply don't know that many young male actors. In fact all the
actors I think of as young -- like DiCaprio -- are no longer
young. Joaquin Phoenix at the time of this writing is 34, or
at least 10 years older than I would want. But I have to go
with who I know; and I think Joaquin in every other way would
make a great Romeo -- he has the acting skills, is handsome,
and has this poetry about him.
Juliette: Leelee Sobieski
Leelee is one of those actresses who perpetually look younger
than they really are. So that's a plus in this role. I think
she might be a bit coolish for Juliette, but with proper
coaching might warm up a bit (and perhaps Joaquin would have
a good effect on her there as well). Important to me also is
the fact that she is not one of the "current rage" actresses
who you see all over but who are basically just mediocre.
"O happy dagger!"
Thursday, 31. July 2008, 23:40:14
Culture, Movies, Poetry
Adolphe William Bouguereau,
"The Education of Bacchus."
Gods float in the azure air,
Bright gods and Tuscan, back before dew was fallen.
Panisks, and from the oak, dryas,
And from the apple, maelid,
Through all the wood, and the leaves are full of voices,
A-whisper, and the clouds bowe over the lake,
And there are gods upon them...
-- Ezra Pound, Canto III
No matter house dense or obscure or preachy the Cantos of Ezra Pound can
be at times, there are moments that can amaze you. Most of the scholars
in his own day considered him eccentric or even literally mad. Fortunately
for history, T. S. Eliot didn't agree -- to the great benefit of Eliot's poetry.
Il miglior fabbro Eliot called him, "my better master."
You sometimes have to wonder how Eliot, one of the most conservative
personalities of all artists, ever got along with the eccentric Pound.
Sometimes, genius just finds itself. And sometimes it is helped on its
way. Eliot knew greatness -- genius -- when he ran into it. I'm sure
that helped. And for all of Eliot's "Englishness" (Pound hated the
English, really) Pound liked and respected Eliot, both for his poetry
and his well-tooled scholarship. If there was one thing Pound valued,
it was always good scholarship.
One of the best books on the subject of Pound and Eliot is Hugh Kenner's
The Pound Era. The book is not in any way dry, literary criticism. In fact
it is one of those books that brings a period of history to life in a way
that makes you want to keep turning the pages, wondering just what
great clarity you will find next.
If you were to add up all the words written by the great writers of the
West, and if you were to put those up against all the words that have
been written about or concerning those writers and their works, I am
sure that the later would outweigh the former by at least a couple of
exponents. And it is strange that in a field that has seen some of the
greatest innovators in history -- Dante, Shakespeare, Bryon et al. --
that the area of literary scholarship is so maddeningly conservative.
While most academic departments accept or even thrive on new thought
and controversial views, Literature is a field that is in the main
dominated by those who consider themselves God's gift to scholarship,
no dissent allowed. It is a wonder that Kenner's very creative thinking
even got through such an establishment.
Back in 1970, a movie came out called Getting Straight. Based upon the
novel by Ken Kolb, it followed the pilgrim's progress of a returning
Vietnam vet (played by Elliot Gould) through the tempestuous environment
of the late 60s. Harry (Gould) just wants to get through his Master's
degree in Literature without starving to death. Nevertheless there are many
temptations and tests along his way -- women, the academic establishment,
and the protests against the war. He develops an attraction to Jan (Candace
Bergen), a young radicalized woman who tries to get him involved in the
protest movement. Much as he would like to stick his head in the sand,
he finds it increasing difficult to do so.
At the climax of the movie, Harry defends his thesis while all hell is
breaking loose on campus. His ideas on Cervantes are non-traditional.
Which of course does not sit well with the majority of professors on the
committee. Finally, sick of the conservatism he finds around the table,
and at that point pretty much knowing his thesis will not pass, he goes
a little crazy. He gets up on the table and, rising above the academic
gods on their clouds, dances like a mad modern Bacchus. There is nothing
else to do.
As the Seal song goes, we're never going to survive -- unless we get a
little bit crazy. Let's hope that the craziness is of the good, creative
sort. Currently, most of the college teachers who became radicalized
during the 60s and 70s are retiring. And you can only wonder what sorts
are and will be replacing them.
One thing is for sure. The literary establishment isn't going to change
much. And Conservatism is always out there, trying to wrap its metal
straight-jacket around our skulls. Which is a good reason to seek out
rare scholars like Hugh Kenner. Or to indulge in the Bacchic rites of
movies like Getting Straight.
Elliot Gould in Getting Straight (1970).
Tuesday, 29. July 2008, 21:31:17
Movies
(Just click on the pic to watch the vid on youTube.)
One of my professors out at college used to
tell us that virtually from the time we are born,
we are programmed to be good consumers.
Long before there was Dr. Galm, there was
Charlie Chaplin. In this excerpt from Modern
Times, The Tramp is used as a guinea pig for a
wonderful new invention that would simplify our
over-burdened lives -- and literally cram products
right down our throats.
In the later part of the video, The Tramp
goes berserk with a wrench in the factory
where he works, scares the hell out of a
very hot blonde who passes his way, and
attempts to "fix" a fire hydrant. And,
while that would be quite enough mayhem in
one day for most of us, The Tramp it seems
is just getting started.
Following his quite involuntary committment
to a mental asylum, the doctor gives him a
bit of advice as he is released:
"Take it easy -- and avoid excitement!"
Wise words. Like the Eating Machine not very
practical perhaps, but wise nonetheless.
Tuesday, 29. July 2008, 13:38:52
Movies
(Just click on the pic to watch the vid on youTube.)
The greatest boxing match in history.
Well, sort of.
Thursday, 26. June 2008, 03:07:42
Movies
Batman and Robin (Wham! Pow! Ouch!)
The upcoming new installment of the newest Batman chronicle, The Dark
Knight, got me to thinking about all the Batman movies over the years.
The original one (to the best of my knowledge) was the 1966 movie based
on the television series starring Adam West. That movie, if you've never
seen it, I highly recommend. It is one of the funniest movies I've ever
seen. The rest of the Batman movies since then have taken a more serious
turn more in line with the original comic book. There was a series of
Batman flicks in the 90s that starred (consecutively) Michael Keaton,
Val Kilmer, and George Clooney. I thought all of them had their good
points. In 2005 the newest series began with Christian Bale.
Batman is my favorite Superhero. There are several reasons for that, but
the main one is that he is just an ordinary guy. Rich, thinks he's a bat
maybe, but an ordinary Anatomically Modern Sapien. He didn't get bit by
a spider and go through some strange transformation; he doesn't have
mutant genes; he didn't come from an alien planet which gives him superhuman
strength on this one. He's just an ordinary Joe, a guy who saw his parents
murdered and who developed a fear of bats and who eventually decided that
he was pissed as hell and wanted to fight crime.
I suppose his choice to become the Caped Crusader was a little unusual.
Most guys who want to fight crime just become cops or prosecutors. But
you have to hand it to Bruce Wayne -- he did it "his way." Working
outside the system of justice, he goes after a wide variety of punks and
scumbags and evil madmen (and there seem to be quite a few of those in
Gotham City). In truth, he's a kind of weird vigilante. Very weird.
But he's human. He's like us, more or less. Like us if we had any guts
-- and were totally obsessed with bats.
Batman: What's in your closet?
Thursday, 5. June 2008, 03:01:07
Movies
Indiana Jones may have kicked some Soviet ass in Kingdom of the
Crystal Skull, but he's getting his yarbles cut off at the box office
by four crazy broads from New York City.
As of the time of this writing, the new movie version of the famous
Sex and the City television show has made $56.8 million dollars at
the box office compared to Crystal Skull's $44.8 million.
It's been noted elsewhere -- practically everywhere, actually -- that
few men (15 percent) are going to see the movie. And it is also
generally agreed that those who do are either A) gay; or B) totally
pussy-whipped.
And from what I hear, there is no truth to the rumor that Sex and the
City ends with a strap-on lesbian orgy with the four chics. Which is
too bad, cause that's about the only way any guy I know would even
consider going to see it.
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