Wednesday, October 31, 2007
"Ascenseur Pour L'échafaud" Soundtrack
Miles Davis' Score Elevates Louis Malle's Lift To the Scaffold
Though it's only 26 minutes long, covering 10 sequences in the film, Miles Davis' score for Louis Malle's first non-documentary feature, 1958's Ascenseur Pour L'échafaud (released as Lift to the Scaffold in the UK and Elevator to the Gallows in the USA) is the stuff of legend, with jazz critic Phil Davis describing Davis' soundtrack as "the loneliest trumpet sound you will ever hear, and the model for sad-core music ever since. Hear it and weep." In other words, it's Kind of Blue, but ultimately kind of very Cool, and by choosing a non-traditional jazz soundtrack, Malle set the template for later New Wave works. (No, Malle didn't review films at Cahiers du Cinema like Godard and Truffaut and company, and his background was upper middle class, but other than that, this looks and sounds like - and has the hopeless lost soul/rebel attitudes of - a New Wave film.)
Backed by Barney Wilen on tenor saxophone, Rene Urtreger on piano, Pierre Michelot on contrabass and Kenny Clarke on drum, Miles recorded the soundtrack in one late night session lasting from 10 at night until 5 in the morning, while female lead Jeanne Moreau (whose face graces the cover of the soundtrack album) stuck around to discuss the film with the musicians and staff an improvised bar in the recording studio. Davis later recalled the experience as described below:
Bassist Pierre Michelot, in the liner notes to the Verve Records soundtrack album, agrees:
Indeed, it was one of the very few film scores that was completely improvised. In his 2002 book A History of the French New Wave Cinema, Richard Neupart describes this night as follows:
According to Davis biographer Richard Williams, Davis was deeply affected by the images Malle projected:
And Malle, in the opinion of Richard Neupert, received in return a soundtrack whose loose jazz music fit the structure of his loose narrative. Neupert argues that by using a lively, often discordant jazz score, Malle influenced subsequent New Wave directors to "move beyond contemporary popular music to jazz, which lent dangerous and hip connotations to images of Paris rather than allow it to remain majestic and traditional. The music showed that something was afoot. The new music fit the new generation, and it was an appropriate accompaniment for Elevator to the Gallows, with its young, streetwise punk Louis, who seems as chaotic and jarring as the Miles Davis soundtrack."
The Criterion Collection DVD of Elevator to the Gallows is worth seeking out, as it includes footage of Miles Davis and Louis Malle during the soundtrack recording and a film about the score with music critic Gary Giddins and jazz musician Jon Faddis.
By the way, there are two versions of the soundtrack available on CD, the 10-track, 26-minute one that goes for about $10 and an extended 26-track version that includes alternate takes and sells for about $14.
The site Elevator to the Gallows: A jazz Film of Collaborative Integrity has a detailed analysis, with sample video clips, of how Davis' score matches the on-screen narrative.
But if you want it short and sweet, this great Rialto Pictures trailer for Elevator to the Gallows captures the essence of the sights-and-sounds collaboration between Malle and Davis:
Related Links:
Verve Soundtrack Album
Though it's only 26 minutes long, covering 10 sequences in the film, Miles Davis' score for Louis Malle's first non-documentary feature, 1958's Ascenseur Pour L'échafaud (released as Lift to the Scaffold in the UK and Elevator to the Gallows in the USA) is the stuff of legend, with jazz critic Phil Davis describing Davis' soundtrack as "the loneliest trumpet sound you will ever hear, and the model for sad-core music ever since. Hear it and weep." In other words, it's Kind of Blue, but ultimately kind of very Cool, and by choosing a non-traditional jazz soundtrack, Malle set the template for later New Wave works. (No, Malle didn't review films at Cahiers du Cinema like Godard and Truffaut and company, and his background was upper middle class, but other than that, this looks and sounds like - and has the hopeless lost soul/rebel attitudes of - a New Wave film.)
Backed by Barney Wilen on tenor saxophone, Rene Urtreger on piano, Pierre Michelot on contrabass and Kenny Clarke on drum, Miles recorded the soundtrack in one late night session lasting from 10 at night until 5 in the morning, while female lead Jeanne Moreau (whose face graces the cover of the soundtrack album) stuck around to discuss the film with the musicians and staff an improvised bar in the recording studio. Davis later recalled the experience as described below:
...I went to Paris again to play as a guest soloist for a few weeks. And it was during this trip that I met French filmaker Louis Malle through Juliette Greco. He told me he had always loved my music and that he wanted me to write the musical score for his new film, L'Ascenseur pour l'echafaud. I agreed to do it and it was a great learning experience, because I had never written a music score for a film before. I would look at the rushes of the film and get musical ideas to write down. Since it was about a murder and was supposed to be a suspense movie, I used this old, gloomy, dark building where I had the musicians play. I thought it would give the music atmosphere, and it did. - Miles Davis
Bassist Pierre Michelot, in the liner notes to the Verve Records soundtrack album, agrees:
The session took place after the European tour, so we were used to playing together. We arrived at the Poste Parisien around ten, Jeanne Moreau was there, and we had a drink together.
Miles was very relaxed, as if the music he was playing wasn't that important. It was only later that I leaned he'd already been to a screening, and that he'd known about the project for several weeks. So he knew exactly what he wanted, and he also knew what he wanted from us, which is very much to his credit.
What was typical of this session was the absence of a specific theme. This was new for the period, especially with the soundtrack for a film.
-Pierre Michelot, from the liner notes of Ascenseur pour L'échafaud
Indeed, it was one of the very few film scores that was completely improvised. In his 2002 book A History of the French New Wave Cinema, Richard Neupart describes this night as follows:
During this one-night improvisation, December 4, 1957, Malle projected a loop of each of the ten sequences to be scored, and Davis gave the musicians a couple of chords and a tempo to follow. Richard Williams, a Miles Davis biographer, writes, "Of the ten separate tracks that were eventually used, nine are based on the same two chords, D minor and C7; the tenth is a variation on the harmonic sequence of 'Sweet Georgia Brown.' But the nine provided evidence of perhaps the most profound and remarkable of the changes that Miles Davis would impose on his music: the paring down of harmonic material practically to nothing...As a result, the soundtrack of Ascenseur pour L'échafaud took on a completely novel flavor, one that Davis would spend years exploring.
According to Davis biographer Richard Williams, Davis was deeply affected by the images Malle projected:
Davis created an unsually graphic mood; listening tothe soundtrack...the listener has little difficulty summoning fugitive images of rain-washed Paris streets at dawn, or empty nightclubs, of lonely figures prowling the shadows...Never had Davis' music been so poised and assured, so stark and so spare; and the starker and sparer it became, the more power it exerted...Miles Davis had discovered his true characteristics - tragic, solitary, impertinent.
- Richard Davis, Miles Davis
And Malle, in the opinion of Richard Neupert, received in return a soundtrack whose loose jazz music fit the structure of his loose narrative. Neupert argues that by using a lively, often discordant jazz score, Malle influenced subsequent New Wave directors to "move beyond contemporary popular music to jazz, which lent dangerous and hip connotations to images of Paris rather than allow it to remain majestic and traditional. The music showed that something was afoot. The new music fit the new generation, and it was an appropriate accompaniment for Elevator to the Gallows, with its young, streetwise punk Louis, who seems as chaotic and jarring as the Miles Davis soundtrack."
The Criterion Collection DVD of Elevator to the Gallows is worth seeking out, as it includes footage of Miles Davis and Louis Malle during the soundtrack recording and a film about the score with music critic Gary Giddins and jazz musician Jon Faddis.
By the way, there are two versions of the soundtrack available on CD, the 10-track, 26-minute one that goes for about $10 and an extended 26-track version that includes alternate takes and sells for about $14.
The site Elevator to the Gallows: A jazz Film of Collaborative Integrity has a detailed analysis, with sample video clips, of how Davis' score matches the on-screen narrative.
But if you want it short and sweet, this great Rialto Pictures trailer for Elevator to the Gallows captures the essence of the sights-and-sounds collaboration between Malle and Davis:
Related Links:
Verve Soundtrack Album
CLELEBRITY HALLOWEEN COSTUME CHALLENGE
ROSE GOWANS ?
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PARIS HILTON ?
LINDSAY LOHAN ?
UMA THURMAN ?
BRITNEY SPEARS ?
CAN YOU TELL WHICH COSTUMES WERE NOT FOR HALLOWEEN ???
.jpg)
PARIS HILTON ?
LINDSAY LOHAN ?
UMA THURMAN ?
BRITNEY SPEARS ?
CAN YOU TELL WHICH COSTUMES WERE NOT FOR HALLOWEEN ???
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
AMBUSHED ! "JANET JACKSON - TYLER PERRY "
DIDN'T THAT SUPERBOWL THING HAPPEN LIKE 3 YEARS AGO? WHAT A D*CK!
Monday, October 29, 2007
KOREAN PROTESTERS - NOW THAT'S A FIRE !!!
IT'S NOT REALLY A PROTEST UNTIL YOU BREAK OUT THE FLAME THROWER !!!
SCARY HALLOWEEN PRANK ON TV ANCHORS
FINALLY, A GOOD HONEST REACTION FROM THE MEDIA !!!
Sacramento, CA News Anchor scared in halloween joke 10/27/2007
Friday morning News10 Good Morning in Sacramento, CA got a visit from some spooky guests. Yes, that's the weather anchor hiding under the desk.
Dan Elliott: "I like to think of myself as not easily scared or taken aback but it was a case of both for me today on News10 Good Morning."
Kelly Jackson: "I always wondered if any sound would come out of my mouth if I was frightened, and I didn't disappoint! It was a Scooby Doo moment!"
Monica Woods: "As soon as I saw what the screaming was about, I hit the floor. My only other option was to jump in Dan's lap! I think I made the right choice."
Sacramento, CA News Anchor scared in halloween joke 10/27/2007
Friday morning News10 Good Morning in Sacramento, CA got a visit from some spooky guests. Yes, that's the weather anchor hiding under the desk.
Dan Elliott: "I like to think of myself as not easily scared or taken aback but it was a case of both for me today on News10 Good Morning."
Kelly Jackson: "I always wondered if any sound would come out of my mouth if I was frightened, and I didn't disappoint! It was a Scooby Doo moment!"
Monica Woods: "As soon as I saw what the screaming was about, I hit the floor. My only other option was to jump in Dan's lap! I think I made the right choice."
Sunday, October 28, 2007
CRAZY NEW HALLOWEEN CANDIES
POOPING CAT
POOPING CAT 2
GLOW POP
SLITHER SNAKE SUCKER
POOPING CAT VIDEO DEMO
POOPING CAT 2
GLOW POP
SLITHER SNAKE SUCKER
POOPING CAT VIDEO DEMO
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Human race will 'split into two different species'
H G Wells' Science Fiction novel The Time Machine (which was later adapted into two films - this picture is from the 2002 version) the human race has evolved into two species, the highly intelligent and wealthy Eloi...
...and the frightening, animalistic Morlock (as seen in the 1960 film version of the classic book)
Human race will 'split into two different species'
By NIALL FIRTH
The human race will one day split into two separate species, an attractive, intelligent ruling elite and an underclass of dim-witted, ugly goblin-like creatures, according to a top scientist.
100,000 years into the future, sexual selection could mean that two distinct breeds of human will have developed.
The alarming prediction comes from evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry from the London School of Economics, who says that the human race will have reached its physical peak by the year 3000.
The report claims that after they reach their peak around the year 3000 humans will begin to regress
Enlarge the image
These humans will be between 6ft and 7ft tall and they will live up to 120 years.
"Physical features will be driven by indicators of health, youth and fertility that men and women have evolved to look for in potential mates," says the report, which suggests that advances in cosmetic surgery and other body modifying techniques will effectively homogenise our appearance.
Men will have symmetrical facial features, deeper voices and bigger penises, according to Curry in a report commissioned for men's satellite TV channel Bravo.
Women will all have glossy hair, smooth hairless skin, large eyes and pert breasts, according to Curry.
Racial differences will be a thing of the past as interbreeding produces a single coffee-coloured skin tone.
The future for our descendants isn't all long life, perfect bodies and chiselled features, however.
While humans will reach their peak in 1000 years' time, 10,000 years later our reliance on technology will have begun to dramatically change our appearance.
Medicine will weaken our immune system and we will begin to appear more child-like.
Dr Curry said: "The report suggests that the future of man will be a story of the good, the bad and the ugly.
"While science and technology have the potential to create an ideal habitat for humanity over the next millennium, there is the possibility of a monumental genetic hangover over the subsequent millennia due to an over-reliance on technology reducing our natural capacity to resist disease, or our evolved ability to get along with each other.
"After that, things could get ugly, with the possible emergence of genetic 'haves' and 'have-nots'."
Dr Curry's theory may strike a chord with readers who have read H G Wells' classic novel The Time Machine, in particular his descriptions of the Eloi and the Morlock races.
In the 1895 book, the human race has evolved into two distinct species, the highly intelligent and wealthy Eloi and the frightening, animalistic Morlock who are destined to work underground to keep the Eloi happy.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Night Watch
The Return of NIGHT FLIGHT?
I think Scott "Unpainted" Huffines would agree with me that USA Network's '80s series Night Flight (1981-1988) was probably the greatest inspiration and influence on our late '90s public access show Atomic TV (the show even had a regular Cold War Scare Films segment called "Atomic TV"!). Not that we ever ascended the lofty programming heights of that storied program. Bootleg copies of individual shows have popped up on the Internet over the years, but now comes word that on October 11, 2007, television producer - and Night Flight creator - Stuart S. Shapiro acquired the Night Flight library, copyrights and trademarks, and that he is preparing for a relaunch of the show both online and on television. That's great news because Night Flight really created the template for innumerable pop culture TV variety shows and Web broadcasts, a template that in many cases is still being used today. For example, Night Flight played music videos before MTV and played "bad movies" with voiceover wisecracks decades before the Mystery Science Theatre franchise. (They also parodied good movies, like George Melies A Trip to the Moon.)
I don't today's high tech generation - with the Internet, YouTube, Video Streaming, Podcasts, iPods, Nanos, Cell Phones that play music and video, Bit Torrent Downloads, TiVo, Hi-Def TVs and On Demand Everything - can truly appreciate how important this show was in the nascent days of video. Those of us who lived in the '80s remember all too well how video-challenged we were because MTV didn't hit the scene until 1981, VCRs weren't mass-produced until the mid-'70s (and were very expensive, like Hi-Def TVs today, when they did hit the shelves), and CDs weren't even invented until 1979 (becoming available only many years later). Back then Night Flight was a show you literally had to stay up to watch in the wee small houys because there was no TiVo and only Gerry Todd video geeks or industry professionals could afford to buy VCRs. But people like Scott and I did stay up bleary-eyed, because it was well worth it. If only to see gems like Dynaman (forerunner of The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers),
DYNAMAN - "LUCKY PIERRE"
...or Diane Lane as a teenage punk rock sexpot in a see-through fishnet top in Ladies and Gentleman: The Fabulous Stains (which also featured bit roles by Fee Waybill and Vince Welnick of The Tubes and, as "The Professionals," Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook and Clash bassist Paul Simenon backing up frontman Ray Winstone!),
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS
(This clip is from Sarah Jacobson's 2004 short doc The Making of "Ladies and Gentleman, the Fabulous Stains," which is available as an extra on the DVD of Sam Green's documentary The Rainbow Man/John 3:16.)
...or to be amazed by the incredibly strange cartoons and shorts like Russian stop-motion genius Wladyslaw Starewicz's "Devil's Ball" segment from his 1934 film Fetiche - the latter an obvious influence on the Quay Brothers work decades later.
"DEVIL'S BALL"
News about the possible resurfacing of the show comes from Wikipedia, and the entry there provides as good a description of the Night Flight phenomenon as any:
There were a number of recurring segments on the show, but my faves were the Bela Lugosi Monogram movies, Dynaman (an English-dubbed parody of six episodes of the Super Sentai series Kagaku Sentai: Dynaman - you know this series because footage was later used on The Power Rangers!), Love That Bob (Church of the Sub-Genius) (a serialized presentation of the Sub-Genius video Arise!), Peter Ivers LA-punk centered New Wave Theatre (Ivers, who penned "In Heaven (The Lady in the Radiator Song)" for David Lynch's Eraserhead, was later found bludgeoned to death in his Los Angeles apartment in 1983), the even better late-'80s Brit alternative music show Snub TV (featuring music by unknown bands and directed by former Rough Trade Records employee and video director Peter Fowler), and cult movies like (the still out-of-print) Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, Frank Hennelotter's Frankenhooker (1990), Fantastic Planet (the 1973 animated sci-fi film by René Laloux) and (the also out-of-print) Dr. Caligari (directed by Stephen Sayadian, aka as Rinse Dream, the director such X-rated art films as Cafe Flesh (1982), Night Dreams (1981) and my personal favorite, Party Doll a Go-Go (1991) - the latter a major editing influence on Baltimore's Atomic TV).
Fave Night Flight Videos on YouTube:
EARLIEST "NIGHT FLIGHT" BROADCAST (pre-flying logo and theme song)
LATER "NIGHT FLIGHT" THEME
ARISE! THE SUBGENIUS VIDEO - LIFE OF "BOB"
This one feature's Baltimore own "St. tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE"
MICHAEL NESMITH'S "ELEPHANT PARTS"
THE REAGANS SPEAK OUT ON DRUGS
"NIGHT TRIPPIN' TO THE MOON" (GEORGE MELIES "A TRIP TO THE MOON)
DR. CALIGARI (by Rinse Dream)
GISELE KEROZENE - Animation
NIGHT FLIGHT YUPPIE RAP
See more YouTube clips here.
Related Links:
Night Flight
(Wikipedia)
Night Flight at the Open Directory Project
Night Flight Fan Site
Night Flight on DVD at Subterranean Cinema
Night Flight on DVD at KC Texan
I think Scott "Unpainted" Huffines would agree with me that USA Network's '80s series Night Flight (1981-1988) was probably the greatest inspiration and influence on our late '90s public access show Atomic TV (the show even had a regular Cold War Scare Films segment called "Atomic TV"!). Not that we ever ascended the lofty programming heights of that storied program. Bootleg copies of individual shows have popped up on the Internet over the years, but now comes word that on October 11, 2007, television producer - and Night Flight creator - Stuart S. Shapiro acquired the Night Flight library, copyrights and trademarks, and that he is preparing for a relaunch of the show both online and on television. That's great news because Night Flight really created the template for innumerable pop culture TV variety shows and Web broadcasts, a template that in many cases is still being used today. For example, Night Flight played music videos before MTV and played "bad movies" with voiceover wisecracks decades before the Mystery Science Theatre franchise. (They also parodied good movies, like George Melies A Trip to the Moon.)
I don't today's high tech generation - with the Internet, YouTube, Video Streaming, Podcasts, iPods, Nanos, Cell Phones that play music and video, Bit Torrent Downloads, TiVo, Hi-Def TVs and On Demand Everything - can truly appreciate how important this show was in the nascent days of video. Those of us who lived in the '80s remember all too well how video-challenged we were because MTV didn't hit the scene until 1981, VCRs weren't mass-produced until the mid-'70s (and were very expensive, like Hi-Def TVs today, when they did hit the shelves), and CDs weren't even invented until 1979 (becoming available only many years later). Back then Night Flight was a show you literally had to stay up to watch in the wee small houys because there was no TiVo and only Gerry Todd video geeks or industry professionals could afford to buy VCRs. But people like Scott and I did stay up bleary-eyed, because it was well worth it. If only to see gems like Dynaman (forerunner of The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers),
DYNAMAN - "LUCKY PIERRE"
...or Diane Lane as a teenage punk rock sexpot in a see-through fishnet top in Ladies and Gentleman: The Fabulous Stains (which also featured bit roles by Fee Waybill and Vince Welnick of The Tubes and, as "The Professionals," Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook and Clash bassist Paul Simenon backing up frontman Ray Winstone!),
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS
(This clip is from Sarah Jacobson's 2004 short doc The Making of "Ladies and Gentleman, the Fabulous Stains," which is available as an extra on the DVD of Sam Green's documentary The Rainbow Man/John 3:16.)
...or to be amazed by the incredibly strange cartoons and shorts like Russian stop-motion genius Wladyslaw Starewicz's "Devil's Ball" segment from his 1934 film Fetiche - the latter an obvious influence on the Quay Brothers work decades later.
"DEVIL'S BALL"
News about the possible resurfacing of the show comes from Wikipedia, and the entry there provides as good a description of the Night Flight phenomenon as any:
Night Flight was a ground breaking television program on the USA Network from 1981-1988 which ran for four hours on Friday and Saturday nights then repeated into the wee hours of the morning. USA's Up All Night starring Rhonda Shear (and, later, Gilbert Gottfried) would replace it in 1988. It was later revived through syndication in 1990, with a single season of new episodes before the format was changed to "best of" shows from the USA years with host Tom Juarez. These shows were seen as late as 1996 on local TV stations.
Night Flight was one of the first places to see films and shorts not generally aired on broadcast television or on the pay-per movie channels such as HBO. It was the first place many Americans were able to see music documentaries like Another State of Mind, The Grateful Dead Movie, and Word, Sound and Power. Night Flight was also one of the first American television shows to display the music video as an art form, rather than purely as a promotional tool for the artists. And, with the freedom had by them on early (and late-night) cable television, they would at times show portions of videos that were censored (or in some cases, banned) by MTV and other outlets.
In the original format of the show, there was no formal host. Voice-over introductions were made by Pat Prescott before segments started.
There were a number of recurring segments on the show, but my faves were the Bela Lugosi Monogram movies, Dynaman (an English-dubbed parody of six episodes of the Super Sentai series Kagaku Sentai: Dynaman - you know this series because footage was later used on The Power Rangers!), Love That Bob (Church of the Sub-Genius) (a serialized presentation of the Sub-Genius video Arise!), Peter Ivers LA-punk centered New Wave Theatre (Ivers, who penned "In Heaven (The Lady in the Radiator Song)" for David Lynch's Eraserhead, was later found bludgeoned to death in his Los Angeles apartment in 1983), the even better late-'80s Brit alternative music show Snub TV (featuring music by unknown bands and directed by former Rough Trade Records employee and video director Peter Fowler), and cult movies like (the still out-of-print) Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, Frank Hennelotter's Frankenhooker (1990), Fantastic Planet (the 1973 animated sci-fi film by René Laloux) and (the also out-of-print) Dr. Caligari (directed by Stephen Sayadian, aka as Rinse Dream, the director such X-rated art films as Cafe Flesh (1982), Night Dreams (1981) and my personal favorite, Party Doll a Go-Go (1991) - the latter a major editing influence on Baltimore's Atomic TV).
Fave Night Flight Videos on YouTube:
EARLIEST "NIGHT FLIGHT" BROADCAST (pre-flying logo and theme song)
LATER "NIGHT FLIGHT" THEME
ARISE! THE SUBGENIUS VIDEO - LIFE OF "BOB"
This one feature's Baltimore own "St. tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE"
MICHAEL NESMITH'S "ELEPHANT PARTS"
THE REAGANS SPEAK OUT ON DRUGS
"NIGHT TRIPPIN' TO THE MOON" (GEORGE MELIES "A TRIP TO THE MOON)
DR. CALIGARI (by Rinse Dream)
GISELE KEROZENE - Animation
NIGHT FLIGHT YUPPIE RAP
See more YouTube clips here.
Related Links:
Night Flight
(Wikipedia)
Night Flight at the Open Directory Project
Night Flight Fan Site
Night Flight on DVD at Subterranean Cinema
Night Flight on DVD at KC Texan
Cowboy Up
'Pokin' around with my Manhood
The Red Sox "cowboy up"
This morning I was shivering as I stopped by the Gallery Cafe to get my morning fix of Pumpkin Spice coffee.
"Man, it's cold outside!" I said to Gallery co-owner Dave as I plopped my coingage down on the counter.
"Man up, Tom!" Dave replied. "It's Fall, it's rainy and windy, be a man and embrace it!"
He was right. Despite my metrosexual tendencies (loving ballet, one-handed tennis backhands and Sweet & Low sugar substitute), I was, chromosonically speaking, a Man (full disclosure: I was born with a penis).
"Is that like Cowboy Up?" I asked Dave.
"Yeah, Cowboy Up, Tom. I like that term better," he concluded. "Cowboy Up, Tom!"
It's funny, I had never heard the term "Cowboy Up" until the Red Sox won the World Series a few years ago, when it was their official clubhouse slogan that season. I thought they had invented it (Red Sox Nationalists insist former Bosox first baseman Kevin Millar coined the phrase in 2003 and it became their mantra when the Sox rallied from that 3-0 deficit to the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS), but apparently it's been around for years, though anything "Cowboy" the last few years under the Cowboy Diplomacy of the Bush Administration, tends to have negative connotations (thank you, George Dubya!).
According to UrbanDictionary.com, "Cowboy Up" means "when things are getting tough you have to get back up, dust yourself off and keep trying" or "quit your bitching and be a man" (definition 2) - though I suppose the Annie Oakleys and Calamity Janes out there can also "Cowgal Up."
And, according to cowboyup.com (yes, Virginia, there is a cowboyup.com), it means "tuff-up, get back on yer horse, don't back down, don't give up, and do the best you can with the hand you're dealt."
Tim, the brains behind Mother Tongue Annoyances, a weblog on English communications, reports that the term is now (unsurprisngly) copyrighted (this being capitalist/litigious America, what isn't copyrighted today?):
"Cowboy Up!": The Movie
Anyway, I'm curious about the term because the name of the new film by my friend Laurence Arcadias (who teaches experimental animation at Maryland Institute, College of Art) is "Dust Off and Cowboy Up!" The 4-minute short film questions the different meanings of the Cowboy image in our culture by presenting a collage of cut-outs from popular Hollywood Westerns. Part of the fun in watching this film is trying to figure out all the movies she samples clip from (I could name Red River, High Noon and Calamity Jane, but all the John Ford westerns get mangled in my head).
You can see "Dust Off and Cowboy Up" at digichannel.net; click here to watch.
This film will also be screened as part of the "BALTIMORE EXPOSED: Short Films by Local Filmmakers" program at the Enoch Pratt Central Library on Saturday, November 17.
By the way, seeing the footage of "High Noon" in Laurence Arcadias' film made me think back to my second favorite cowboy short (after "Dust Off and Cowboy Up!", of course, and ahead of my #3 fave, the 1971 Lenny Bruce animated short "Thank You, Mask Man" and my #4 fave, the Santa Claus/Western spoof "The Great Toy Robbery"), "High Tech Noon" by Darryl Gold (founder of "Darryl's Hard Liquor and Porn Film Festival" and the mind behind "My Name Is Jack Valenti" and "Death Star Repairmen"). I remember airing it on Atomic TV years ago, but the version available on YouTube is much better quality. You can "High Tech Up" and watch it below:
HIGH TECH NOON (Darryl Gold, 2000, 4:05 minutes)
Related Links:
Cowboyup.com
Laurence Arcadias Website
www.darrylgold.com
The Red Sox "cowboy up"
This morning I was shivering as I stopped by the Gallery Cafe to get my morning fix of Pumpkin Spice coffee.
"Man, it's cold outside!" I said to Gallery co-owner Dave as I plopped my coingage down on the counter.
"Man up, Tom!" Dave replied. "It's Fall, it's rainy and windy, be a man and embrace it!"
He was right. Despite my metrosexual tendencies (loving ballet, one-handed tennis backhands and Sweet & Low sugar substitute), I was, chromosonically speaking, a Man (full disclosure: I was born with a penis).
"Is that like Cowboy Up?" I asked Dave.
"Yeah, Cowboy Up, Tom. I like that term better," he concluded. "Cowboy Up, Tom!"
It's funny, I had never heard the term "Cowboy Up" until the Red Sox won the World Series a few years ago, when it was their official clubhouse slogan that season. I thought they had invented it (Red Sox Nationalists insist former Bosox first baseman Kevin Millar coined the phrase in 2003 and it became their mantra when the Sox rallied from that 3-0 deficit to the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS), but apparently it's been around for years, though anything "Cowboy" the last few years under the Cowboy Diplomacy of the Bush Administration, tends to have negative connotations (thank you, George Dubya!).
According to UrbanDictionary.com, "Cowboy Up" means "when things are getting tough you have to get back up, dust yourself off and keep trying" or "quit your bitching and be a man" (definition 2) - though I suppose the Annie Oakleys and Calamity Janes out there can also "Cowgal Up."
And, according to cowboyup.com (yes, Virginia, there is a cowboyup.com), it means "tuff-up, get back on yer horse, don't back down, don't give up, and do the best you can with the hand you're dealt."
Tim, the brains behind Mother Tongue Annoyances, a weblog on English communications, reports that the term is now (unsurprisngly) copyrighted (this being capitalist/litigious America, what isn't copyrighted today?):
Both Semantics etc. and Legal Spring report that a company out of Jackson, Wyoming called Wyoming West Designs owns the trademark on the phrase Cowboy up. Evidently Wyoming West Designs produces and distributes an extensive line of T-shirts, stickers, magnets—you name it—containing the phrases Cowboy up, Cowgirl up, et cetera, ad nauseam. I wonder if they have a sticker that says Cowborg up? Anyway, read Andrew Sinclair's blog for more infos.
As far as etymology of Cowboy up is concerned, the best online source I could find was an archived linguistlist.org LISTSERV posting that cites a 1975 usage of the phrase:
1975 _Reno Evening Gazette_ (Nev.) 4 Jan. 9/4 "It hurts," he exclaimed, putting on a pantomime of a clobbered cowboy dragging a game leg away from a bull wreck. "You're crying. You're bleeding. You're screaming. And there's Gay [sc. rodeo instructor Don Gay] right behind you saying, 'Cowboy up. Get tough. Get tough.'"
"Cowboy Up!": The Movie
Anyway, I'm curious about the term because the name of the new film by my friend Laurence Arcadias (who teaches experimental animation at Maryland Institute, College of Art) is "Dust Off and Cowboy Up!" The 4-minute short film questions the different meanings of the Cowboy image in our culture by presenting a collage of cut-outs from popular Hollywood Westerns. Part of the fun in watching this film is trying to figure out all the movies she samples clip from (I could name Red River, High Noon and Calamity Jane, but all the John Ford westerns get mangled in my head). You can see "Dust Off and Cowboy Up" at digichannel.net; click here to watch.
This film will also be screened as part of the "BALTIMORE EXPOSED: Short Films by Local Filmmakers" program at the Enoch Pratt Central Library on Saturday, November 17.
By the way, seeing the footage of "High Noon" in Laurence Arcadias' film made me think back to my second favorite cowboy short (after "Dust Off and Cowboy Up!", of course, and ahead of my #3 fave, the 1971 Lenny Bruce animated short "Thank You, Mask Man" and my #4 fave, the Santa Claus/Western spoof "The Great Toy Robbery"), "High Tech Noon" by Darryl Gold (founder of "Darryl's Hard Liquor and Porn Film Festival" and the mind behind "My Name Is Jack Valenti" and "Death Star Repairmen"). I remember airing it on Atomic TV years ago, but the version available on YouTube is much better quality. You can "High Tech Up" and watch it below:
HIGH TECH NOON (Darryl Gold, 2000, 4:05 minutes)
Related Links:
Cowboyup.com
Laurence Arcadias Website
www.darrylgold.com
Thursday, October 25, 2007
HERE COMES COMET 17P HOLMES ! ! !
A nearly unprecedented outburst has raised Comet 17P/Holmes from a 17th-magnitude object visible only through large telescopes into plain view without optical aid. The comet lies in Perseus the Hero and will remain visible all night from most of the Northern Hemisphere.
This morning, observers in Japan reported Comet Holmes glowing at 3rd magnitude — bright enough to see with naked eyes even from most cities — and still growing brighter. If you have clear weather tonight, head out once the sky darkens and look toward the northeast.
The comet lies about 30° high — one-third of the way from the horizon to straight overhead — at 9 p.m. local daylight time. It then appears about twice as high as the bright star Capella. For observers at mid-northern latitudes, the comet climbs directly overhead between 2 and 3 a.m. You'll have to contend with a nearly Full Moon all night, but you still should see the comet plainly.
Unlike most bright comets, Holmes doesn't possess a long tail. It looks just like a modestly bright star, so you'll need to use the finder chart to zero in on it. Even large telescopes reveal no details. The comet currently lies 150 million miles (245 million km) from Earth and 225 million miles (365 million km) from the Sun.
No one knows how long the outburst will last. When London observer Edwin Holmes discovered the comet in November 1892, it was also in an outburst and some 100,000 times brighter than it normally is. During that appearance, the comet faded 3 magnitudes in the course of a week.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
TRUMP HAS PIMPED REALITY TV AGAIN !
Donald Trump, a co-owner of “Miss USA”, “Miss Universe” and “Miss Teen USA” pageants, has come up with a new reality TV show which will take us into the daily lives of the women who currently hold these titles.
The premise is fairly straightforward. Three beautiful beauty queens live together in a Midtown Manhattan high-rise apartment. The 8 part series will show the winners going about their pageant obligations.
The reality show will allow the audience to glimpse the cat fights, jealousy, anger and hostility that is sure to occur when you put beautiful and ambitious women in the same living space for an extended period of time.
The cameras will follow Katie Blair, Miss Teen USA 2006, and her successor, Hilary Cruz; Riyo Mori, this years Miss Universe; and Rachel Smith, the current Miss USA as they do photo shoots, and perform their other pageant obligations.
Donald Trump, no stranger to the camera, will pop in at intervals as will Tara Connor, Miss USA 2006. Connor made news near the end of her reign when she nearly lost her crown for allegations of drug and alcohol use. She entered rehab and got a second chance from The Donald.
Trump said he brought Connor on board because she is popular with the public and because celebrities talk openly about their problems with addiction. She will give the women tips on makeup and navigating the media - her areas of expertise.
GUILTY - Barmaid crushed cans with breasts ! ! !
October 24, 2007 07:51pm
A BARMAID has been fined for crushing beer cans between her bare breasts while an off-duty colleague has been fined for hanging spoons from her friend's nipples.
The 31-year old barmaid pleaded guilty in the local magistrates court to twice exposing her breasts to patrons at the Premier Hotel in Pinjarra, south of Perth.
The woman "is alleged to have also crushed beer cans between her breasts during one of the offences", in breach of hotel licensing laws, police from the Peel district of Western Australia said.
The barmaid and the hotel manager were both fined $1000, while an off-duty barmaid was fined $500 for helping to hang spoons from the woman's nipples, police said.
"It sends a clear message to all licensees in Peel that we will not tolerate this type of behaviour in our licensed premises," local police superintendent David Parkinson said.
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A BARMAID has been fined for crushing beer cans between her bare breasts while an off-duty colleague has been fined for hanging spoons from her friend's nipples.
The 31-year old barmaid pleaded guilty in the local magistrates court to twice exposing her breasts to patrons at the Premier Hotel in Pinjarra, south of Perth.
The woman "is alleged to have also crushed beer cans between her breasts during one of the offences", in breach of hotel licensing laws, police from the Peel district of Western Australia said.
The barmaid and the hotel manager were both fined $1000, while an off-duty barmaid was fined $500 for helping to hang spoons from the woman's nipples, police said.
"It sends a clear message to all licensees in Peel that we will not tolerate this type of behaviour in our licensed premises," local police superintendent David Parkinson said.
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Zazie dans le Metro
Saw this great film last night during TCM's Louis Malle birthday celebration (Monsieur Malle, who left us in 1995, would have been 75!). The zany pace, diverse film techniques, irreverent slapstick humor (right out out the silent film genre) and surreal narrative structure is very 60s and the cinematography is brilliant, as brightly colored as any acid trip I can no longer remember. It made me think of The Beatles Help! or The Monkees' Head crossed with Willie Wonka. And, for being based on a children's book (by Raymond Queneau), it has some rather mature, or should I say "French" attitudes to certain subject matters. Like Zazie asking her uncle if he's a "homosessual" or playing the romantic endeavors of a lech (the wonderful Vittoria Caprioli) for comic effect (Caprioli is charming but he is initially chasing after an 8-year-old jeune fille, after all!). But my favorite moment is when one French woman confides to another that she's getting married, only to be asked, "Why, are you pregnant?". That is just sooooo French. As if, why would you bother if you didn't have to get hitched? Tres continental and very chic, that's Zazie in a nutshell.
Following is a review from World Film's About.com:
ZAZIE DANS LE METRO
Directed by Louis Malle
Screenplay: Raymond Queneau and Louis Malle
Starring Philippe Noiret, Catherine Demongeot, Vittorio Caprioli, Carla Marlier.
France, 1960.
Louis Malle's fourth film is an absurdist wonder to behold. If you enjoy madcap urban screwball comedy, anything between, say, After Hours and Run Lola Run, you owe it to yourself to check out Zazie.
The story goes something like this: little Zazie, an 8-year-old foul-mouthed brat is dropped off with her uncle in Paris while her mom sees her lover. For 24 hours, she terrorizes her Uncle (Philippe Noiret), who is a transvestite dancer, a love-lorn flic, a man who may or may not be a child molester, and a polar bear. Complications include a metro strike, an attack by hordes of sex-crazed Skandinavian girls on top of the Eiffel Tower, and some sort of Marxist revolution.
This gut-bustingly funny madcap adventure is based on a novel by freak novelist Raymond Queneau, and to match Queneau's whacky linguistic tricks, Malle didn't hold back on cinematic gimmicks. Zazie is full of camera trickery and sight gags, allusions to everything from Marx Brothers movies and cartoons to The Third Man and Citizen Kane. I'm sure I missed half of it because I was too busy reading the subtitles and cracking up over Zazie's absolutely monstrous insults.
The little girl, played by Catherine Demongeot, is a riot. She's crass, crude, but somehow always cute. You won't find a comparable child anywhere in American movies short of Harmony Korine. Shirley Temple would rather have died before even hinting at some of the stuff Zazie spits out with matter-of-fact deadpan.
No doubt about it: this is one of the silliest movies every made, and I don't mean silly-bad like Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man or silly-dumb like Leslie Nielsen. I'm talking about hold-your-head-in-disbelief-silly, whacked-out-silly, liberating-silly. After you're done laughing, Zazie makes you see the absurd and often despicable world of adults with the eyes of a child again -- a thieving shameless child, but maybe that's the best you can ask for. The movie dances along with infectious lightness. I dare you to watch this and not be splendidly entertained. And if it bends your cerebral cortex out of shape just a bit, I'm sure Malle wouldn't mind.
Related links:
IMDB entry
Zazie Trailer
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Thriller
It's getting near Halloween time, time to dig out the greatest Halloween video ever...Michael Jackson's "Thriller," a production so rightly famous that it's celebrated all over the world, from Hollywood to Bollywood and even the famous exercise yard of Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in the Philippines.
Michael Jackson's Thriller
PHILLIPINE INMATES THRILLER
INDIAN THRILLER
LEGOS THRILLER
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