Sinden.org continues to observe the Octave of the American Election. Normal programming, if there is such a thing, will resume eventually.
Major kudos to Miss Wombat of in time of daffodils for providing us with a keen election night musical analysis.
After his concession speech, the McCain camp piped in music from the film Crimson Tide: "a movie about an old white guy submarine captain, and the upstart young, black XO who have to deal with Russia attacking their sub."
This is, as Miss Wombat notes "an almost hilarious topical reference about black vs. white and experience vs. inexperience."
But more than that, isn't it a pointed reference a certain vice presidential candidate who was a threat to both campaigns? And to the ever present Russia, a country in close proximity to said vice presidential candidate's house?
Not to mention that the site of all of this drama is an electorally significant Ohio-class submarine?
Two logos are seen. The first was used until from 1989-1996, and the second from 1996 onward.
Wait for the second one. It's worth it.
(via herself and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx a movie she's embarrassed to admit she was watching -- and let's face it, I would be too if it started out like that)
Need another BFS video logo? Here's a version of the first logo with different music.
Labels: film, randomness
The first part of a new series that reviews the American Film Instute's list "100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition)".
I was pretty impressed when two DVDs arrived in the mail (it's an old school epic with overture, entr'acte), but not as impressed as I was by the awesome, nine-lap chariot race. It is clearly the model for the podrace in The Phantom Menace, but that one is not nearly as good.
The rest of the movie -- and there is a lot of it -- is less impressive. Leprosy and Jesus make an appearance.
This film fell 28 places (and nearly off the list), and I can't say I am surprised. It was #72 on the original.
After I watched The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T late last week, I descended into a merciless spiral of word-association movie watching fueled by Red Bull and eight-at-a-time Netflix. Here's how it went down:
- The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953)
- Dr. T and the Women (2000)
- Women vs. Men (2002)
- Men in Black (1997)
- Black Hawk Down (2001)
- Down with Love (2003)
- Love with the Proper Stranger (1963)
- Stranger than Paradise (1984)
- Paradise Road (1988)
- The Road Warrior (1981)
- Xena: Warrior Princess, Season 1 (1995)
- Princess and the Warrior [Der Krieger und die Kaiserin] (2000)
- Warrior Queen (2003)
- Queen of Outer Space (1958)
- Space Cowboys (2000)
- Cowboys of Faith (2007)
- Faith of our Fathers (1997)
- Fathers and Sons (2004)
- Sons of the Desert (1933)
- Desert Hearts (1985)
- Hearts and Minds (1974)
- Mindstorm (2001)
- Summer Storm (2006)
- Bikini Summer (1991)
- Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965)
- Goldfinger (1964)
- The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953)
Labels: film, randomness
Herself came into the room as I was watching The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953), the only feature film written by Dr. Seuss.
She identified the eponymous character and inquired as to his motives. I immediately replied:
"He wants 500 boys to play his enormous piano at the same time."
This is a great movie.
Labels: film
First, I saw Helvetica and decided I like movies about fonts.
Here's a font movie you can watch now: Trajan is the Movie Font
Labels: film, graphic design
Oscar the:
- architect, Niemeyer
- boxer, de la Hoya
- class of submarine
- doomed musical (2004)
- edible meat and cold cut production company, Mayer
- fashion designer, de la Renta
- Grouch
- hotels, Greece
- I, King of Sweden
- Judicial application
- King of Sweden (also), II
- Latin American patriarch, Romero
- movie (1967)
- Norwegian and Swedish prince
- Oil Spill Contingency and Response
- Peterson, pianist
- Queen Sharmell's husband, Gutierrez
- relief pitcher, Villareal
- single-engined land-based fighter, Nakajima Ki-43
- traditional leader in folk music since 1886, Schmidt
- undesireable remake (1991)
- van Nooijen
- Wilde, author
- X-ray technician, Medrano, Jr.
- Y. Takeshita
Zmoked meat and cheese products- Zoology professor, Werner Tiegs
Labels: film, randomness
I haven't been slacking off. My intense research into the world of American improvisation/creativity, which consists mainly of watching movies and reading books, is proceeding as planned.
Shortly, I will be viewing Keith Jarrett: The Art of Improvisation, and I expect to publish a reaction here.
Based on titles of works they have published, both organist Gerre Hancock and pianist Keith Jarrett believe that improvisation is an Art.
Jarrett will be an interesting case study in the world of improvisation. He's clearly a superbly gifted musician, one who is well-known as an improviser. More than that, his innovative solo concerts have been instances at spontaneous creation (improvisation that is not based on pre-existing themes).
Like comedian Jerry Seinfeld in the documentary Comedian, Jarrett recently sought to remodel his improvisations by starting from scratch (these efforts are captured by his most recent release Radiance). This artistic trajectory reveals an artist who is particularly attuned to the distilled, creative essence of his art.
There's a lot of personal interest here. I grew up listening to Jarrett, and I grew up improvising on the piano and the organ. What I'm really interested in getting a hold of is the concept of improvisation in isolation -- improvisation for its own sake.
I don't think organists have much experience with this concept. Most organ methodologies don't hesitate to introduce hymn-based techniques fairly early on. Surely this is practical, but it is putting the cart before the horse.
By teaching organists how to improvise set forms, certain methodologies surely relegate improvisation to the world of "craft." And while this may speak to the reality of what occurs when the organist improvises, I think it is worthwhile to try to access the bigger picture: improvisation as "Art."
By the same token, however, improvisation is most easily accessed through set forms and stipulations: a craft, if you will. And for some inexperienced improvisers, improvising without a predetermined form will lead to musical incontinence.
How much have organists been limited by our received methodologies? How many organists are asked to just improvise, for its own sake, and without the aid of anything pre-composed?
How many organists are comfortable removing the trappings of western music, or inherited default-churchiness to create something really honest, personal, artistic?
By way of example, the fugue was a necessary thing to improvise in Bach's time. One could even argue that the French had their own fugue thing going too. But how many American composers are still writing fugues? I mean, not even Henry Cowell really did (he wrote fuguing tunes, trying to reclaim an earlier American form), and he died forty years ago.
American organists just aren't talking enough about the Art of Improvisation. This is symptomatic of too few American organists improvising, which is in turn symptomatic of their being a lack of an American improvisational "style" or ethos.
And so, my quest for an An Ethos of Improvisation at the Organ in the United States (AEIOU) leads me into Jazz, a realm where improvisation is regularly practiced and discussed, even if not fully understood.
I couldn't believe these two consecutive articles about Arnold Schwarzenegger in my RSS reader.
The site is Green California. The movie is to be called Brutal Deluxe.
This just in: Apparently Arnold Schwarzenegger hit Craig Biggio with a pitch on the Feast of St. Matthew, 2005 (Pirates vs. Astros).
Labels: film
My Neighbor Totoro (1988) is a really great movie. And it gets top honors for the song during the closing credits: "My Neighbor Totoro."
Rain tumbles down, the bus is lateYou can read the lyrics and hear this nifty Japanese electronica version of the song.
Suddenly a furry wet giant is by your side
Labels: film
Today in the Episcopal Church (motto: "We have cool feast days") is the Feast of St. Wulfstan. If I were in Holywood, I would feel the need to make this into a movie. Or at least a preview for a movie.
[Black Screen, Cue Gothic string music]
[A flash of night-time lightning illuminates a distant hill]
[White text:] From the makers of Primates of the Carribean
[Lightning flashes again with distant thunder, hill is closer, Worcester Cathedral is barely illuminated]
[text:] Comes the legend . . . [note the dramatic elipsis]
[Lightning flashes again with violent thunder crack, close-up on cathedral in the rain, there is a full moon in this shot. Why it didn't show up in the others, I don't know]
[text:] of Wulfstan.
[Interior, rectory, night]
CLERIC: The Lord be with you.
WULFSTAN: And also with Yowooooooooooooooooooooooo! [throws back head, camera pulls back quickly]
[large text:] The Werebishop
[smaller text:] Coming on the feast of the Transfiguration
August 6, 2005
©MMV Domestic and Foreign Movie Society
Do you get it? It opens on the feast of the Transfiguration because he's a Werebishop! He's transfigured. Or something.
Man, I've gotta see that movie.
Labels: film
I've taken a different approach to choosing organ voluntaries to this year's Christ the King Sunday. In the past I have been tempted to play things like William Walton's Crown Imperial and various and sundry coronation marches and trumpet tunes and whatnot.
This year, I have a growing sense that Jesus is already "king" in a lot of peoples' minds: king of success, king of hate and cultural insensitivity (examples abound, and I'd rather not link to any), king of the box office, and king of the White House (after he was already king of Texas?).
I think all of these approaches miss what is meant by Jesus' kingship. So does Jenee Woodard:
For me, the scriptures chosen for these Christ the King / Reign of Christ Sundays really deconstructs the whole "King"/imperial domination thing, perhaps even among those whose celebration are [sic] done in all sincerity. When we call JESUS king, are we saying that Jesus has the "properties" of a King, or that JESUS as king points toward a whole different understanding of reality.
I should add that I recently saw a movie about a king who had a lot of personal problems while womanizing, growing obese and inadvertently beginning Anglicanism.
With these things in mind, I've focused in on some aspects of the readings and am playing Samuel Barber's "Wondrous Love" variations. I find the last variation especially haunting and relevant to a renewed understanding of kingship.
The second thief in this weeks Gospel reading asks: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." (Luke 23:42)
When we step back and remember with that thief that Jesus' kingdom is not this world, then it is irresponsible for us to try to make him king of this world.
It is irresponsible to dictate this weird concept of a world-king-Jesus to others. It is especially irresponsible when our government has this concept. His kingship is not one of violence, war or "crusades," but it is one of love, humility, and sacrifice.
Jesus is only king as the crucified. He's the counter-king; a subversive monarch. His power lies in sacrifice. This is what the second theif understood on the cross. Jesus' finding power in relinquishing power (sacrifice) doesn't make any sense; it's a paradox. Jesus' "Wondrous Love" is responsible for his kingship: he bore "the dreadful curse for my soul."
Underneath all the cacophonous trumpeting of the world, it's hard to hear this:
And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on, I'll sing on;
And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on.
And when from death I'm free, I'll sing and joyful be;
And through eternity, I'll sing on, I'll sing on;
And through eternity, I'll sing on.-The final verse of "Wondrous Love:"
Here's to a quieter, more introspective Christ the King Sunday.
Update: After looking at the hymns again I've decided to add Ralph Vaughan Williams Prelude on "Hyfrydol" as the concluding voluntary. So, take everything I was saying above with a grain of salt, I guess.
Tangent: This was my tactic for literature organization in childhood. Take that library science majors!
Labels: film
Perennially jealous of the amount of attention other schools receive on film I was pleased to finally find a supporting role for Oberlin College. Divulging this information, however, means admitting that I just watched Eurotrip (2004), or at least the last five minutes.
At the close of the film, it is a ResLife mistake that allows Mieke (German female) to room with Scott (American male). Scott seemed to have a rudimentary understanding of German, so might he and Mieke have roomed together in German House under the new Co-ed rooming policy?
And in four years at Oberlin, I never saw the river that runs through campus.
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