Stop and Smell the Daisies
A combination of busyness and lack of fresh inspiration is preventing me from posting anything here. Sorry. I will be back on Sunday, but in the meantime enjoy this shot of the lovely African daisies growing in our back yard and alley:
Weekly Mishmash: February 17-23
Starting today, I’m going to do a little roundup of the movies, books, music and whatever else I’ve digested over the previous week. Here we go!
The African Queen (1951) Bogie and Kate, leeches and tsetse flies. This is one of those rare classic movies that I’d never seen before due to the fact that it’s always “there” and someday I’ll get around to it (the film equivalent of spring cleaning or flossing). What a wonderful film. In addition to having a lot of adventure and romance, John Huston and James Agee’s screenplay sparkles with the sort of smart and non-stylized dialogue rarely heard in films from that period.
Before the Music Dies (2006) A documentary that attacks the consolidation of America’s music and radio conglomerates and the focus group tested, mass audience pleasing pap they produce. This film made a lot of excellent points, but it honestly didn’t illuminate or tell me anything I didn’t already know. Despite the appearance of several heavy-wattage musicians (Erykah Badu was the best), it seemed cobbled together with a lot of cheap shots and unnecessary live footage. I’d even argue that the kind of earnest folk and blues that this film champions has never been commercially viable — so what’s the point?
The Chordettes — “They’re Riding High” Says Archie. An eMusic download of the female harmony-pop quartet best known for the fantastic “Mr. Sandman.” This LP is a Best-Of originally released in 1957 (the Archie of the title is Cadence Records head Archie Bleyer, who was married to one of the ladies). Although it’s missing the later hits “Lollipop” and “Never On Sunday,” I really enjoyed this plushly produced, sweet stuff — not nearly as cheesy or sleep-inducing as I thought.
The Lives of Others (2006). Fascinating film that offers a glimpse into a time and place that I previously had little knowledge of (Communist East Germany in the ’80s). It comes across a touch too talky at first, but after a while I was so absorbed in the characters that it didn’t matter.
Stranger Than Fiction (2006). Will Farrell hearing voices in his head. An excellent cast and a thought-provoking premise, and I loved the graphic treatment of Farrell’s various anal-retentive habits. The only thing that bothered me was when (spoiler alert!) Dustin Hoffman advised Farrell to sacrifice himself so that Emma Thompson could publish her novel as it was intended. Would any halfway decent person with a conscience really do that?
La Vie En Rose (2007). Edith Piaf was a phenomenal singer, a prickly personality, and a hardcore drug abuser. That’s about all I learned from this film, but it sure is a beautifully made biopic — and Marion Cottiard is unbelievably good. I’m pulling for her to nab that Oscar.
More Bunnies
Posted another installment of Two Bunnies and a Duck today. This new one was done in ink. The lines are darker, making the words easier to read — but I don’t like drawing in ink as much, and the results came out wobbly looking. Back to pencil for the next one. I have several weeks’ worth of comics planned (but not yet drawn).
Wednesday Photo Spectacular!
It’s becoming apparent that this weblog has been suffering a bit of neglect lately, but hopefully I can put a Band Aid (similar to the one I got today for a tetanus shot) on that with these marvy photo-based links:
- Most Important: Newsweek’s slide show Losing Our Lakes demonstrates how global warming is contributing to lowering water levels all over the world. Sobering but well worth a look.
- Most Inspiring: Derrick Bostrom’s set of scans from an early ’60s book predicting what life in 1975 might be like. Apparently the future involved lots of industrial squared-off edges and gadgets we never thought we needed before. Bacon in a toaster? Hell yeah!
- Most Nostalgia-Inducing: Glen Mullaly’s series of posts on the movie and TV tie-in t-shirts he wore as a child hit me like a tall glass of Strawberry Quik. Read part one, part two and part three for a journey into iron-on nirvana. I can remember having a black Darth Vader tee in the fifth grade, with my name spelled out in blood red all-caps Cooper Black on the back. It was the coolest.
- Most Magical: I stumbled across this fascinating flickr photo set of early Walt Disney World snapshots and memorabilia last weekend. In planning my own WDW trip this spring, it’s kind of hitting me that I’d much, much rather vacation at the Magic Kingdom/Epcot as it existed sometime around 1983 (sigh).
New Mix: The Mr. Blackwell Show
Nowadays he might be dimly known for his bitchy “Worst Dressed” lists, but back in the ’60s Richard Blackwell had his own fashion line for plus-sized women and society matrons desiring a Beverly Hills sophisticated-yet-casual look. The gowns (and, yes, it was mostly gowns) he created had this luxe “swanky chic” thing going on — something I wanted to recreate using soundtrack cuts and soft pop music of the era. It’s in the same spirit as my holiday mix that I decided to share it with Scrubbles readers right here, in a downloadable continuous mix.
So, what was I going for on this one? It’s the sound of a modish soirée in a Technicolor Blake Edwards confection. Or of a woman in a Pucci print caftan curling up with a Jacqueline Susann novel. It’s “The Ladies Who Lunch” on a Mediterranean cruise. Luxurious, somewhat cheesy, but oh so elegant. If I could pick one track that epitomizes that feeling, it would be Henry Mancini’s lovely “Party Poop” from the soundtrack for the Peter Sellers comedy The Party. Enjoy.
Movie Poster Artist Extraordinaire
After dealing with little to nothing on the web about the great ’70s/’80s illustrator Richard Amsel, it’s a pleasure to see Adam McDaniel’s wonderful tribute to the artist. I’ve written in awe about Amsel before; he was a fantastic talent, but also something of an enigma. I wonder what would’ve been of his career had he not died so young. The site includes a nicely written bio and comprehensive galleries of his TV Guide covers and movie poster art. Of special interest are his unused cinematic poster concepts, like the one below for The Muppet Movie. Cool stuff!
The Granny Awards
Out of curiosity (okay, I wanted to see if Burt Bacharach and Doris Day might appear to pick up their Lifetime Achievement awards), I tuned into the Grammy Awards last night. Boy, what a strange show. Just hand me some Geritol ’cause I feel so elderly now! It’s bad enough that I’ve never heard of three quarters of the nominees, but isn’t it strange that the awards themselves are an afterthought on the telecast? Somewhere along the line the Grammy producers decided the telecast should feel less like a traditional awards show and more like a long concert filled with nothing but the brightest stars in music — but the live performances don’t come across all that well since they have all the spontaneity of a Bush Town Hall meeting. It’s superficial beyond belief and the pacing seems too rushed. Between all this puffery, a few major awards get a perfunctory handing-out — while the zillions of lesser award winners are flashed onscreen in nearly illegible type (seriously, I want to strangle the designer who picked a blocky all-caps, microscopic font for the award categories). Still, it’s worth it for the occasional moments of weirdness — like Kid Rock duetting with Keely Smith (who looks like she could be my mom’s older sister). And it seems like they always have to trot Aretha Franklin out like some friggin’ Macy’s parade balloon.
I never put much stock in the Grammys anyhow. They’ve got way too many categories and they tend to shower awards upon artists who are 10-20 years past their prime. Besides, they’ll never get over that Christopher Cross thing.
Reams of the Unreal
Yesterday, Christopher and I took our yearly little trek to the VNSA book sale which takes place every February. This is one of the biggest used book sales in the country — and luckily it’s located just a short walk from our house. The sale is an amazing experience, with books (and book lovers) of every type filling up an entire huge hall. I ended up getting the eleven books pictured below for the sum of $17. Some are common; some I’ve never seen before. The Peter Arno cartoon collection from 1930 is one of the oldest books I’ve ever seen there. In the same section I found Wendell Ehret’s “Dear Gertrood”, a collection of illustrated letters from a WWII soldier. Ehret has a loose ‘n lively style that appears influenced by vintage Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, but I haven’t been able to find anything about him on the web. I also delighted in finding Favorite American Songs (1956), a sheet music collection gorgeously illustrated by Aurelius Battaglia. Leif Peng has a weblog entry and flickr photoset on Battaglia (which confirms that the book I got is a later, slimmer reprint that omitted many illustrations — oh well!). I’m also looking forward to reading Doris Day’s autobiography from 1976, a lady upon whom I’ve been having a strange fixation lately. All in all, a good day’s haul.
Two Bunnies and a Duck
The s.o. has been hounding me for the last few weeks to get a comic strip going. Voilà: Two Bunnies and a Duck will be updated every two weeks. Doing a comic strip is harder than it looks. How the #@%≈$ do comic strip artists keep the characters looking the same in every panel? I keep drawing bunny after bunny and they always come out different. Anyways, enjoy the first installment.
The White Elephant in the Room
William at Robot Action Boy recently pointed out this second annual White Elephant Blogathon which sounds pretty cool. Participants select an awful (or sometimes good) movie, which another randomly selected blogger must view and do a writeup on. All of the blog posts will be published on April 1st. Hurry; deadline for participants is February 10th. Last year’s entries included things like Teen Witch, Nude for Satan and Bio-Dome. I am so gonna do this!
The Sound of Love
Browsing the newly opened online archive of The Atlantic magazine allowed me to re-read The Man from Heaven, an astute appreciation of Burt Bacharach written by Francis Davis in 1997. It’s an excellent piece, coming along just as I’m adding Bacharach’s “South American Getaway” (from the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid soundtrack) to an upcoming mix of chichi elegant ’60s instrumentals and soft pop vocals. Keep an ear out for it in the next few weeks.
In Stereo (Where Available)
My new time-waster: TV show opening credits from 1985-89. The clips are arranged by year in groups of seven or eight — but otherwise they play randomly. Hit shows bump up against obscurities, or dopey sitcoms follow action dramas. It’s fun to check out the dated music and fashions, and also the fact that opening credits ran long back then. I also enjoyed seeing forgotten entities like The Nutt House and The People Next Door. Very cool!
Freshness & Quality
Talk about ephemera from the past… a recent eBay purchase arrived stored in this ancient looking plastic bag:
The cent sign and area for a handwritten price tells me it’s not recent, and based on the groovy flowers and lower case “fresh” lettering I’d say it’s from the ’70s. I vaguely remember bags like this (possibly the very same style, even?) during childhood trips to the grocery store. In the produce section, customers had to take their bagged fruits and veggies to an employee who’d weigh and price them before sending you on your merry way. Something about it makes me think about how ephemeral a lot of the stuff we take for granted is. This bag was just a common piece of everyday life back then, but now it seems more like a museum piece. I wonder if your average smiley faced Wal-Mart bag would have the same effect in thirty years?
