Mod, Mod Monsters
Happy Halloween — as good a time as any to give props to the cult Rankin-Bass stop motion feature Mad Monster Party, doncha think? For all its spooky mystique, however, this movie is actually kind of dull (Boris Karloff and Phyllis Diller give their all in the voice department). Perhaps the best part of the movie is the opening credits — did you know Mad magazine’s Jack Davis designed the creatures? The lovely title song sung by jazz singer Ethel Ennis sounds like a lost James Bond theme, only … Halloweeny. Listen to Ethel without competing sound effects here.
Bama Bama Bo Bama
Obama’s infomercial might have been too slick and manipulative, but it reminds me that very few politicians can be called “inspiring.” I can’t believe we might actually have a calm, rational, statesmanlike president. We’ve already sent in our early ballots and made the right choice.
As far as campaign ads go, I much prefer this:
Putting the ‘M’ Back in MTV
What do you think of MTV Music, the brand spankin’ new Hulu-style database of music videos from the channel’s glory years? I think I’m going to spend much too much time rooting around that site. One can search hundreds of videos by artist, title, or director (thanks to Ironic Sans for that tip!). Just tonight I burned up several minutes watching this, this, this, this, and this — all examples of that “film a bunch of models in grainy Super 8″ style that was briefly hot in the ’80s. I vaguely remember reading in Rolling Stone about a married couple (Paula Greif and Richard Levine) that was responsible for many videos of that ilk.
New Order’s “Round and Round” is one of my favorites from that era, the kinda thing that made you glad that you stayed up late for 120 Minutes for once. As it turns out, one Paula Greif directed it. Honestly, from a 2008 vantage point the idea of juxtaposing b&w footage of models just sitting there with brief flashes of colorful flowers and marbles seems pretty goofy, but back then it was the coolest:
Let’s Hear It for Generic Scientist Guy
About the nifty sculpture below: we drive by this all the time. It’s located in downtown Phoenix’s Encanto Park, surrounded by a grove of Italian cypresses that threaten to grow over the poor guy. It always fascinated me, but I’ve never actually gone out to look at it up close until now. Although it was erected in 1957, the simplified man in the laboratory coat has more of an optimistic ’30s feel. Very appealing.
The inscription on the base reads” “World Progress Through Scientific Research In The Laboratory. Designed in fulfillment of the wishes of the donor and given to the city of Phoenix by Helen B. Rogers, 1957. Charles Badger Martin, sculptor.” I haven’t been able to find much info on either Rogers or Martin.
Weekly Mishmash: October 19-25
Before getting to the weekly mishmashery, I need to spotlight a couple of links that I meant to post about earlier this week — but never did (this seems to be a recurring pattern here at Scrubbles.net). First is a neato collection of vintage Peanuts animation commented on by Cartoon Brew’s Jerry Beck. The post also links to the clips — the trailer for You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, an intro to The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, and a preview of the 1961 Fords — without commentary. I love this stuff; your mileage may vary!
My second must-see is Mark Simonson’s post about the accuracy of vintage typefaces and props used in the first season of Mad Men. A fascinating examination of a beautifully produced show that — heresy alert! — I’ve never really warmed up to.
On to the mishmash:
Various — The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 7: 1967. When Mom and Dad gave me a nice big Amazon.com gift certificate for my fortieth birthday, I immediately went online and placed an order for a volume of this wonderful but expensive CD series produced by Hip-O Select. After hearing all 120 songs on five discs, I can now confidently say that 1967 was my favorite vintage Motown year. This was the time when Marvin Gaye first duetted with Tammi Terrell, Stevie Wonder was emerging as a major talent, The Temptations were coming on strong under producer Norman Whitfield, and The Supremes went glam-tastic with “The Happening” and the quasi-psych masterpiece, “Reflections.” It’s also the year of some of the most underrated songs Motown ever put out — The Marvelettes’ “When You’re Young And In Love,” The Four Tops’ “7 Rooms Of Gloom,” Martha Reeves & The Vandellas’ “Honey Chile.” Surprisingly, many of the b-sides presented are as good as the flip sides. Here’s where the non-soul oddities that blemished the earlier volumes are ironed away: 1967 Motown was truly a nonstop hit producing machine. Fantastic stuff!
Iron Man (2008). This movie got mostly good reviews when it came out, didn’t it? Alas, both of us were pretty underwhelmed by the DVD. On the plus side, Robert Downey Jr. deserves all the credit for shaping the character of Tony Stark into something more than a teenage boy’s pastiche of a perfect man (filthy rich, gadget geek, and chick magnet!). On the minus side, this movie was awfully dumb and leaves an impression that’s distinctly more Transformers than Dark Knight. The usually reliable Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges were both pallid as love interest and adversary, and for that I blame an uncompelling script. I know that superhero films require much suspension of disbelief, but this sports one too many “oh, come on” moments to count. Hopefully the inevitable next film in the franchise will improve.
Prix de Beauté (1930). This French melodrama, filmed as a silent but dubbed in with a soundtrack for release, would be a minor footnote of a film if it wasn’t the final starring vehicle for the comely Louise Brooks. She’s the whole show here, playing a young woman who enters a beauty contest against her boyfriend’s wishes — suffering the consequences when she wins the title of Miss Europe. The storyline is nothing special, leaving one to notice the director’s odd fascination with crowds and mechanical objects (really, this movie is practically a love letter to the linotype machine). Brooks is startlingly modern in her trademark helmet hairdo and a variety of simple casual wear ensembles. She does her best in a boring story that turns unexpectedly potent in the final ten minutes.
That Darn Cat! (1965). Despite being somewhat long and slapsticky, this is the pinnacle of ’60s live action Disney. Should be an object study on how to make family-friendly films that appeal to both adults and children. And Hayley Mills? Cute as a button.
Young, Gifted & Baroque
It’s finally done! The scrubbles.net Autumn mix, Young Gifted & Baroque, grew out of my fascination with Disney’s Main Street Electrical Parade music. As even Disney neophytes know, the parade’s twinkly theme was appropriated from “Baroque Hoedown” — a song composed by French electronica pioneers Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley for their 1967 LP Kaleidoscopic Vibrations. Ten years later, musicians Don Dorsey and Jack Wagner lengthened the song and incorporated (rather ingeniously, I think) melodies from classic Disney films to create an unforgettable soundtrack. According to the song’s Wikipedia entry, Jean-Jacques Perrey didn’t even know Disney was using his song until he chanced upon the parade during a 1980 visit to Disneyland!
This mix contains Perrey & Kingsley’s original and a bunch of other goodies. It culminates with an official 2001 remix of the Main Street Electrical Parade theme with campy voice-overs from Alice In Wonderland’s Alice and Pete’s Dragon’s Pete. Other versions include They Might Be Giants’ frenetic cover, a delicate rendition by harpsichordist Sumina Arihashi, a dance remix by Konishi Yashiharu and Pizzicato Five, and an orchestral arrangement used as mood music in the Disney theme parks. I’ve also filled out the mix with various tunes I dig that have a funky “amusement park” vibe (please note: the mix is one long 72-minute mp3 file with the songs slightly blending into each other). Enjoy.
Download ‘Young, Gifted & Baroque: Scrubbles.net Autumn 2008 Mix’
Midcentury Metropolis
Having fun rummaging about Walt Lockley’s site all afternoon. This is the Phoenix equivalent of James Lileks’ Minneapolis site: quirky commentary on quirky local architecture. Of course, since Phoenix is a relatively young city, there’s a huge emphasis on Midcentury Modern (or at least our own weird, deserty approximation of it) — a style not yet old enough to be considered worth conservation by some old, stodgy Phoenicians. Nerts to them.
Lockley is also a funny and excellent writer. An observation on ASU’s fabulous Gammage Auditorium:
This Gammage either looks like a wedding cake with arms, or a smart little sombrero that George Cukor might have put on Rosalind Russell’s head as she clips in from stage left, yacking, a sombrero eight stories tall, a sombrero with welcoming arms. It’s pink. Officially the Gammage is ‘desert rose’ but it’s really pinker than hell and everybody knows it. The general opinion seems to be that it’s ugly — or as my friend Bisser blurted out, “hideous!” As if the ghost of George Cukor had pinched his ass.
Not only is that building a wonderfully loopy landmark, but I also have a lot of wonderful memories associated with Gammage. As a child/teen, I saw a lot of great theater productions there. It’s in the parking lot that I learned how to drive a stick shift. And inside, at around the eighth row center on a November night, I met my significant other.
Weekly Mishmash: October 12-18
Anne of Green Gables (1934). A wholesomely entertaining Cliff Notes version of L.M. Montgomery’s classic books. I see it as a very ’30s RKO literary adaptation, and a less satisfying companion to George Cukor’s Little Women from the previous year. Anne Shirley (she named herself after this role) plays the character a tad too obnoxiously, but she has an ingratiating charm that fits the curious Anne well.
The Devil’s Sword (1984). This one took me on a flashback to 1983: my dad, my two brothers and I were trying to decided what film to see. Most of us were leaning toward Airplane 2, but my older brother was absolutely hellbent on seeing a 3-D action adventure opus called Treasure of the Four Crowns. Majority ruled that day, but eventually we also saw Four Crowns as well — and it suuuucked. The Devil’s Sword, a cheesy Indonesian sword ‘n scorcery fest, is cut from the same mold. There’s a good guy and a bad guy, both trying to obtain a magical sword from the crocodile queen and her harem of Solid Gold dancers, along with several kung-fu fights, a badass old witch, and a boulder used as transportation device. In its defense, I was sufficiently intrigued by the wackiness to stay tuned to the film’s predictable conclusion. This would have been ten times better given a MST3K treatment, however.
Fallen Angel (1945). Good, not great, noir from many of the same personnel who worked on Laura. Dana Andrews is admirably sleazy as a chiseler who simultaneously pursues Alice Faye’s rich yet dim church organist and Linda Darnell’s hotsy-totsy waitress. The film is beautifully directed by Otto Preminger and filled with many sharp exchanges; I’d rate it higher if Dana wasn’t such a cad and the story wasn’t so familiar.
Hugo Montenegro — Moog Power. One of those kitschy ’60s albums that I’ve always been curious about. This week, I came across a RapidShare download of the album (get it while it’s hot!) and finally got to hear why this was considered a crate digging gem for a time. About as ’60s as Sammy Davis Jr. in gold chains and a paisley nehru jacket, and just as inappropriately groovy. I love the white-bread male chorus on “More Today Than Yesterday” and “Traces,” and the dynamic “MacArthur Park” is tagged for definite inclusion on my next mix — which should be posted here next week. Keep yer ears peeled.
Targets (1968). Fascinating and intense film about a retiring horror film star (Boris Karloff, excellent) who decides to make one last public appearance — at a drive-in with a gun-toting maniac on the loose! Peter Bogdonavich directs and has a supporting role as actor. This movie has a distinctly modern take on violence in society, very detached and cool, and it results in a film that stays with you long after you viewed it. Scenes with the deceptively boyish looking killer on top of a water tower, dispatching highway motorists with chilling accuracy, have an uncomfortable resemblance to the Zapruder film (and this was only five years after the Kennedy assassination!). On a superficial note, I love the tacky blue-on-blue interior decoration on the sniper’s family home. My hat’s off to the set dresser who achieved that perfect Lawrence Welk Minimalist look.
Taxi to the Dark Side (2007). Compelling documentary from Alex Gibney, director of the equally hard-hitting Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. This time Gibney turns his lens on an innocent Afghan taxi driver who was interrogated and tortured to death in 2002. This man’s story serves as a springboard toward discussions about Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and the Bush administration’s underhanded attempts to redefine “torture” for its own means. While some methods might be more humane than others (forced Devil’s Sword viewings, perhaps?), torture is torture. The most refreshing aspect of this film is that it’s told in a straightforward manner with no obvious agenda. Having the people who were there speaking on what happened is its most effective narrative device. Oh, and Bush still sucks, pass it on.
Your Money Or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship With Money And Achieving Financial Independence by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. This was recommended to me by J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly fame a few years back; it didn’t enter my mind again until recently when I spied it on a thrift store shelf and purchased it for, like, a dollar (something the authors would approve of, I’m sure). Although published in the early ’90s, much of the sensible advice proffered carries even more relevance in today’s credit-strapped economic climate. I’m surprised at how much of the authors’ regime Christopher and I already follow. Get out of debt. Pay off your entire credit card every month. Cut out anything that uses excessive energy (you’d be amazed at how easy it is to live without a dishwasher or clothes dryer). Buy only stuff you need. Prioritize your life and weed out expensive hobbies and/or cash-sucking activities (buying new work clothes, for instance). I’d agree with J.D. that this book’s tone gets a bit New-Agey at times, but reading it inspired me to take steps further and track all of my income/expenses. I really need to know if my paltry income as a freelance designer is covering more than half of our household expenses. This book frequently gets republished; the next paperback edition comes out in December.
So Wop On Your Feet
“Can’t Stop Moving” by Sonny J might be my new fave song/video — love the dancers, the wonky animation, and the overall infectious, Free to Be… You and Me vibe of the thing. For further research, view the Mirwais remix or the original 2007 viral video in which the tune is paired up with imagery from the old Jackson 5 Saturday morning cartoon. Funky.
Soda Review: Rat Bastard Root Beer
Rat Bastard root beer is produced by an L.A. company who owns the dead url of skeleteens.com. Scared yet? I haven’t even gotten to how they put the slogan “Don’t be a dick. Drink it.” on the cap. Truth be told, sipping on this is a mighty odd experience — at first the soda comes off with a typical and pleasantly sweet taste similar to Barq’s. After a few seconds, however, a deep and lingering flavor more reminiscent of herbal tea kicks in. A look at the label reveals it contains a special herbal blend consisting of three varieties of ginseng, clove, dong quai, ginko biloba and a bunch of other weedy sounding things I’d never heard of. The herbs give it an appealing, sophisticated taste — unexpected, given the bottle’s “sk8tr boi” label design. The guy working at Pop The Soda Shop told us that this is their best selling root beer, and I can understand why.
Flavor of the (Previous) Month
In the absence of anything else decent, here is what results when the scrubbles.net front page is processed at wordle.net:
Weekly Mishmash: October 5-11
The Dark Knight (2008). For my birthday weekend, I wanted to see a movie the old fashioned way, sitting in the theater. Despite being months old, this was the movie I chose. For a summer blockbuster, it was pretty good. I liked the concept of a “realistic” superhero movie where the principals are essentially normal people who are capable of doing extraordinary things. Christopher Nolan’s direction was daring, violent and dark, with several impressive set pieces and neat storyline twists. That said, the movie was also punishingly overlong and too ambitious for its own good. The script’s several competing plots would be better suited to two (or more) films, Christian Bale was kind of boring, and Heath Ledger’s Joker didn’t quite live up to the hype (at least he wasn’t all hammy like Nicholson).
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! (1966). “I got a rock.” In a strange coincidence, much of the birthday haul this year had a “vintage Peanuts” theme. One brother got me The Complete Peanuts 1965-1966, another got me a DVD set containing the classic Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas specials, and my pal Ion gave me some cool magnets and sticky notes. Guess some people know me well! On this remastered DVD, the Great Pumpkin stands up well with a nifty new making-of featurette. I love the watercolor-style backgrounds and Vince Guaraldi’s mellow jazz piano. Still classic, very evocative, but not as much of a downer as the Christmas special.
Performance (1970). I’ve always been curious about this cult movie, but once seen it’s a bit disjointed and frustratingly split into two distinct halves. The first half is a dazzling Brit mob movie, with kinetic directoral touches that are far ahead of their time. For the second half, however, the filmmakers decided to ignore the script and do a lot of long, draggy scenes with Mick Jagger and his two groupies in their dingy flat. How very 1970. Disorientation rules throughout, but James Fox has a commanding presence as the badass mobster. The movie essentially belongs to him, despite the Jagger-heavy marketing.
Shree 420 (1955). One of the better Bollywood musicals I’ve seen, with a beautiful b&w production that’s on par with Hollywood efforts from the same era. It’s as overlong and campy as other films of its ilk — but once you get past star Raj Kapoor’s schmaltzy and overbearing Chaplin imitation (it fades as the film proceeds), this is a sweet and uplifting movie with several terrific musical numbers. One such scene, with leading lady Nargis instructing her students on the finer points of vegetables, is the very definition of adorable:
Bunnies, Comic #18
New Two Bunnies And A Duck today. I’m pleased with how nicely drawn and colored this one came out.
Soda Review: Lucky 66 Orange
Our next soda is Lucky 66 Orange, made by a Wilmington, Illinois company that distributes nostalgically bottled sodas for sale in diners and gift shops all along historic Route 66 (hmm, I shoulda looked for these in Williams last week). The odd thing with fruit-flavored sodas is that they don’t necessarily have to taste like the fruit they represent. Orange Crush is a good example — it’s flavorful and ultra-sweet, with just a hint of orange. Lucky 66’s orange, by comparison, was a bit pallid. Although nice and lightly carbonated, it lacked the citrusy “kick” it desperately needed. Despite the disappointment, the soda does sport a lovely label:
40 Years, 40 Albums
I just turned 40 today — and I love it! Really, no joke. I’m grateful to be in good health and nice shape these days; feeling physically much better than I did ten or fifteen years ago.
To celebrate, I’m posting a meme cribbed off Max from last July — name your personal favorite albums of every year you’ve been alive. Like Max, I spent and inordinate amount of time agonizing over this challenge. Having a fresh new iTunes to fill up has given me a fresh opportunity to think over the album format, however. I tried limiting myself to one LP per artist, avoiding compilations for the most part. Thinking about it this way was a challenge, with some years being chock full of great stuff and others winding up a bit dry (didn’t realize how much 1997 and 2007 sucked until now). Most of the post-’70s albums were things I was listening to and loved while they were new; the earlier albums are generally more recent discoveries. Enjoy and — happy birthday to me!
1968: Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell — You’re All I Need
1969: Dusty Springfield — Dusty In Memphis
1970: Simon & Garfunkel — Bridge Over Troubled Water
1971: The Free Design — One By One
1972: Carpenters — A Song For You
1973: Stevie Wonder — Innervisions
1974: Steely Dan — Pretzel Logic
1975: David Bowie — Young Americans
1976: Kate and Anna McGarrigle
1977: Various — Saturday Night Fever soundtrack
1978: Blondie — Parallel Lines
1979: Talking Heads — Fear of Music
1980: Elvis Costello & The Attractions — Get Happy!!
1981: ABBA — The Visitors
1982: ABC — The Lexicon Of Love
1983: Tracey Ullman — You Broke My Heart In 17 Places
1984: Madonna — Like A Virgin
1985: Eurythmics — Be Yourself Tonight
1986: Prince & The Revolution — Parade
1987: The Smiths — Louder Than Bombs
1988: Erasure — The Innocents
1989: Linda Ronstadt — Cry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind
1990: Cocteau Twins — Heaven Or Las Vegas
1991: U2 — Achtung Baby
1992: R.E.M. — Automatic For The People
1993: Pet Shop Boys — Very
1994: Massive Attack — Protection
1995: Björk — Post
1996: Beck — Odelay
1997: Future Bible Heroes — Memories Of Love
1998: Air — Moon Safari
1999: Fountains Of Wayne — Utopia Parkway
2000: Kirsty MacColl — Tropical Brainstorm
2001: Daft Punk — Discovery
2002: The Apples In Stereo — Velocity Of Sound
2003: Pernice Brothers — Yours, Mine and Ours
2004: The Go! Team — Thunder, Lightning, Strike
2005: Rachel Stevens — Come and Get It
2006: Belle and Sebastian — The Life Pursuit
2007: Amy Winehouse — Back To Black
2008: Adele — 19
