Coming Soon: A New Series on Movies; I am Moving; Current Literature

For the next few days, I will attempt to write some essays that take a closer look at the state of the art of film today, based on topics that have captured the attention of the popular press.  Included will be the following;

--From "Best Years" to "Hurt Locker": Hollywood portrays Returning War Veterans

--The state of film criticism, and a personal defense of "Citizen Kane"

--A reaction to Roger Ebert's essay on the diminishing returtns of 3-D technology

--Gay actors and straight roles, and vice-versa: one writer's opinion on the Newsweek powderkeg

I hope to see some new releases soon, and post my reviews.  "Robin Hood" attracts me on the promise of two dynamic and talented performers, Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett.  "Please Give" is the kind of small and intriguing character-driven comedy-drama that that was once a Hollywood staple.

I may also revisit old favorites and classics from the warm confines of our cozy home-screening-room, and hopefully generate excitement in returning to older favorites, and perhaps start some discussion around these. 



I am in the midst of moving, having miraculously sold my condominium, which has been my "home" for 16 years.  I believe there is some good material for emotional, funny, and surprising personal essays.



Finally, I will come back to a favorite piece of recent literature, "Olive Kitteridge", after I attend a book discussion next Monday.



Thanks for staying tuned.....

Oscar and The Betty White Factor--Wednesday Journal #2

There is a new Facebook campaign afoot to urge the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to choose Betty White, an Emmy-winning actress in her own right, to host next year's Oscar telecast. 
 
Although I would do nothing to take work away from Betty White if she wants it, I kind of sense a tone of mockery in this latest campaign.


It seems to be less about White as a talented human being, and more about the Facebook petitioners themselves, and the extent to which they feel they can effect popular culture.  It feels more self-serving than it does like a real tribute to Betty White.  I hope she will politely decline.


She captured our attention, and our hearts, with her good-sport self-ribbing in that Super-Bowl Snickers commercial in which she is soundly tackled on the football field, prompting one player to shout derisively, "You play like Betty White!"   We laughed because White was in on the joke, and we loved her for taking a fall for our amusement, and, it seemed, her own.


Her stint as host of Saturday Night Live last Saturday continued her seeming re-invention as a no-holds-barred, slapstick comedienne, in the same way that Leslie Nielsen and Cloris Leachman had redefined themselves and renewed their careers.  With the help of mostly good material, she was great, and entertained us beyond the initial gimmick of an elderly person being profane and participating in raunchy comedy.  It was a good move for her, entirely appropriate, and endeared her to us even more.


But now, I fear there's the threat of overexposure, of her being used for a cheap and easy laugh, and being forgotten as the talented and established celebrity she has been for so long.  Like Leachman, whose buffoonery on Dancing With the Stars overshadowed what a powerful performer she had been in her heyday (see "The Last Picture Show"), White is in danger of limiting herself.  In fact, "Dancing..." has also made an overture to Betty White, an alarming sign that one's "star" may be dimming.


There is really no reason for Betty White to host the Oscars beyond the ten minutes of novelty and the laughs at her expense.  And, as much as I criticize the Academy and its questionable choices, there are admittedly those who are well-deserving of recognition on Oscar night, and the ceremony should be about them, not the host.  A good host, through wit and timing and graciousness, ultimately makes us care about the honorees. 

A better way for her to participate is as a presenter, maybe of one of those obscure categories (Animated Short Subject?) coming into the show's third hour, to infuse some well-needed warmth and energy into the show by that time. 

Also, if the writing for the show is as bad as it has been for the last several years, as host she will only be embarrassed and subject to unfair ridicule.

Of course, she might be asked to play it straight, and bring some old-fashioned glamor and respectability back to the Oscar broadcast.  But...I suspect that's not at all on the minds of those initiating, and signing, the Facebook petition.

La mia classe è finita--Wednesday Journal #1

To commemorate the 100th birthday of my maternal Grandparents, I have just completed the Level-1 course of Conversational Italian. What better way to effect a personal re-invention than by learning to speak a new language?


I now know the alphabet, numbers, common greetings and questions, directions, family relationships, clothing, and how to tell time.  We also breezed through definite articles (in Italian there are SEVEN ways to say the word "the"), masculine, feminine, singular and plural nouns (Italian does not add the letter -s to make a word plural), present-tense conjugation of frequently used verbs, and the forms of irregular verbs like "to be". 


Amusingly, we also  learned the translations for phrases like "I have a headache" (Ho mal de testa) and "I'm tired" (Sono stanco), both of which I have lately used quite often!  Must be a regular state of being for my paisani.


Now it's time to use the next few weeks to learn to assimilate all of this into phrases I can use to hold a simple conversation.  I am considering signing up for Level 2 in June.


*    *    *    *    *
Our final class meeting was a small party for the two dozen students and our instructor, Francesca.  She brought homemade bruschetta for us to eat, and others provided various Italian cheeses and salads, cookies and cannoli.


We watched a beautiful slide show in which we learned a great deal about Italy's many provinces, shown in the map above.  Images of the beaches of Sicily, La Scala opera house in Milan, and the Venetian carnival were especially wonderful.  Aah, the wanderlust is beginning to consume me!


The Italian language has been in transition ever since Dante wrote in what would become the "proper" Italian vernacular.  The language, along with its many dialects, changes dramatically from province to province: the Arab influence in Bari on the Southeast coast, the Norman and Greek flavor of Sicily, the French sounds of northern Milan; Tuscany is where the Standard language is heard most regularly.


Of course, the aspect of "talking" Italian that remains constant and universal is the hand gesture: as Francine Prose stated in "Sicilian Odyssey", Italians speak, as they live, with intensity, gesturing with their hands up to their elbows.


Here's a video that has fun with the Italian hand gestures.  It's a little ribald, but gently so.  I hope you enjoy!  By Level 2, I will be thinking in Italian.

"Bless the Beasts..."--Saving Animals Threatened by the Oil Spill

The imagination is troubled by thoughts of the thousands of innocent creatures endangered by the BP oil spill off the Gulf Coast:  Brown pelicans, sea turtles, migratory birds, songbirds and hummingbirds, otters, and many others, some of them unknowingly stopping on their annual ritual of migration, others simply trying to get through life in their natural habitats.  Many of them do not survive; some are permanently damaged.  That is the tragic cost of oil.


So many have sacrificed too much to appease the fossil fuel god.  Mine workers die; oil rig workers die; animals are hurt and killed; the environment is constantly assaulted.  I have read that not until oil prices become inordinately high will alternative forms of sustainable energy become cost-effective. The hidden price is already too high.


Especially troubling are the innocents caught in the crossfire.  Whether or not one believes that life has a purpose, and that the arrangerment of the worlds' creatures has meaning, one's spirit is refreshed at the thought that animals may provide us with the answers on how best to live.  Instead, we repeatedly ask animals to suffer for our mistakes, or our pleasure.


It's overwhelming to consider the many animals that will be harmed by this latest disaster, as the ink (or oil, as it were) has barely dried on the rescue efforts of the Exxon Valdez, and other blown tankers. 


So I think of just one pelican, one sea turtle, and the quiet tragedy they endure in such a disaster, and the unsung heroics of good people who try to help these creatures.


It's not only one oil spill. There have been many others, which often escape media attention. We harm these creatures in countless ways, and they suffer without complaint.  By ignoring the wonderful potential inherent in coexisting with these creatures and learning life lessons from them, rather than hurting them, we are missing out on a spiritually human opportunity.


I remain thankful that there are trained animal rescue workers, and scores of volunteers being trained, to do hazardous oiled animal rescue, cleaning and rehabilitation.


Professional workers must be carefully trained not only to pick up and handle affected wildlife, but to take care that they themselves don't suffer serious health consequences from exposure to crude oil.


A rescue process takes about seven steps and can consume weeks or months before an animal is returned to the wild.  Often, they die soon after release because of lasting damage caused by ingesting oil. And new migrators are again in danger and the cycle repeats itself.


For those wanting to know more about opportunities to volunteer or donate, check out the Discovery web site HERE.

We have to speak for them.....

The video below was recorded by The Carpenters in 1971.  Nominated for an Oscar from a melodramatic yet hearfelt movie of the same title, "Bless The Beasts and Children" was criticized for being cloying, saccharine.....and maybe it is.  On the other hand, if an animal were able to write an anthem for its own kind, it might sound exactly like this.  I think it's rather beautiful; there's an innocence about it that is endearing.  Enjoy the song, and the gentle visuals that accompany it.

Tagged For A Musical Meme!

Walter of The Silver Screening Room tagged me to participate in a musical meme, kind of an on-line interview on a particular topic.  I've been asked to answer a series of questions about the music in my life.  This exercise was great fun, and I fear I have responded in much too much detail...I humbly appreciate the invite! Thank you Walter...


[To those who have been exceedingly kind in promoting my blog, and had tagged me for creative recognition, especially Tom (Sophisticated Lunacy) and
Dave (Ultra Dave) I am forever in your debt.   I regret that I did not feel ready to follow through then....and I hope some day to earn the honor you have generously offered.  You are true mentors and blogging friends. 

And so I would like to tag both of you, Tom and Dave, to provide us your responses to this great survey.]

meme   Pronunciation: \ˈmēm\
Function: noun   Date: 1976
: an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture

And so, here are my responses to the series of questions about music in my life:


1. Open up your iTunes, music player, spin the CD, whatever, hit shuffle and tell us what is the first song to play?   From my new, in-development i-Tunes, the first "song" to pop up is "The Anvil Chorus" from Verdi's opera, "Il Trovatore".

2. Name your top five favorite bands/musicians of all time. So hard to narrow this down...and I fear I may lock myself into an era...but here goes: Joni Mitchell, Simon and Garfunkel, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Gordon Lightfoot, and George Gershwin. (And there are about 50 runners-up).

3. What was your first CD to own? (8 track, record, CD, MP3 for the newbies) There are two I received as gifts at the same time: The Soundtrack from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", and The Carpenters "Close To You".   Vinyl, of course.

4. Of all the bands/artists in your cd/record collection, which one do you own the most albums by? Joni Mitchell...I have almost every recording she ever made, plus two concert DVD's.  She is a consummate artist, a poet, prolific and brave, and endlessly interesting.

 
5. What was the last song you listened to? "Hey Ya" by OutKast, just happened to be on the car radio as I was driving home from the gym this afternoon.  (I won't include "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" from "Women in Love", which I watched tonight on DVD.) 
6. What song would you say sums you up? No song is complex enough, funny enough, or dog-friendly enough.  One song that speaks most closely to my current philosophy is "Clouds (Both Sides Now)" by Joni Mitchell.

7. What's your favourite local band or band that originated from your hometown?  The band Chicago, of course. 

   




8. What's the greatest concert you've ever been to? Linda Ronstadt at the University of Iowa.

 
9. What musician would you like to hang out with for a day?  After Joni (of COURSE), I think Elton John, to talk to him about working on Billy Elliott.

10. What was the greatest decade for music?  Every decade had great music.  Mozart (1780-90) and Beethoven (1801-10) might raise this bar a bit....  In American pop culture, the '60's had the most interesting variety and evolution, plus it was a lot of fun....

11. What is your favorite movie soundtrack? Oh come ON!  So many to choose from, I will create sub-categories:

Classical: Amadeus; and John Corigliano's "The Red Violin"

Original dramatic score: Personal favorites are "The Best Years of Our Lives" by Hugo Friedhofer, and Philip Glass' "The Hours";   but my all-time favorite song written for a movie is "Moon River" from "Breakfast at Tiffany's".

Compilation: "A Clockwork Orange" features Electronic Beethoven and Purcell, Rossini's "Thieving Magpie", Pomp and Circumstance, and Gene Kelly's rendition of "Singin' in the Rain"---what a combination!
Favorite soundtrack of a musical: "West Side Story"

Most evocative of the emotional effect of a film: "Brokeback Mountain" can still bring me to tears.

12. What's the most awful CD/record/etc. you've ever bought? Mrs. Miller's Greatest Hits doesn't qualify, because it was a gift.  So, by far, the most awful CD I purchased was The Shaggs, "Philosophy of the World".  I heard the incredible (and sort of tragic) story of these three inept musical sisters on a radio program, and could not resist having a copy.  Read their story HERE  and listen below.... (sorry)

13. What's your favorite band t-shirt or poster?  I always loved the logo for the 1969 Woodstock festival...don't know if this technically qualifies, but I can bend the rules here a wee bit....




14. Rolling Stones or The Beatles? The Beatles....they had the more interesting musical evolution...each musician was fascinating...legendary....They had more versatile music with wider, universal appeal.




15. What is the one song you would most like played at your funeral? Your birthday? While on a romantic date?
Funeral: "Cabaret"
Birthday: "Downtown" by Petula Clark, and maybe dozens more!
Romantic date: Hmmm, I always got dreamy hearing Maria Muldaur's "Midnight at the Oasis"...or Chicago's "Wishing You Were Here"

And there you have it!  Thanks for coming along on my magical musical tour.