The Atlantic has a post on the upcoming 70th anniversary of Citizen Kane which is worth a read. As these things happen, I find one thing and then stumble through a few rabbit holes of idly searching for related stuff and then come up with a few nifty things.
Here’s Orson Welles as he appeared on the Dean Martin Show in 1968. Not only is the venue unlikely for a portrayal of a Shakespearean character but also the way in which it is conducted, with Welles (arguably one of the best raconteurs ever) describing the character of Falstaff as he takes his time applying the makeup, reveals this to be something we’d never see on the air today, certainly not on US primetime anyway – and reinforces the view expressed in D.B. Grady‘s Atlantic article that Welles has always, and will continue to be, a revered artist and personage.
Grady also mentions the best known of Welles’ unfinished films (of which there are, sadly, too many) entitled: The Other Side Of The Wind. Shot between 1972 and 1976, it’s still caught up legal battles over who owns the rights but everyone keeps hoping Peter Bogdanovitch – whom Welles chose as the one for the task – will get his chance to complete the edit according to Welles’ notes and we might once and for all be able to see the finished work.
In the meantime, here’s a brief clip from the film which shows Welles at his innovative best – over 40 years ago.
That, even by today’s standards, is fucking awesome.
Sidney Lumet, one of the best directors ever of American cinema, has died – and we are all poorer for this loss.
I had the good fortune to meet him, briefly, during the shooting of Equus but never worked with him. He didn’t do a lot of puppets. But the films and early broadcast dramas he crafted for us certainly made an impact upon me and the way I view movies and storytelling.
With deft, revealing editing and incisive commentary he delves deep into what it means for all of us as we proceed from our past to our future. Recognizing where we came from is essential to knowing where we are going. Ferguson’s work in this regard is essential. Watch it. Share it. Reward it.
Enjoy.
Cheers.
P. S. Keep watching after the credits for a great addendum and a message from Kirby Ferguson himself.
The Public Domain is the rule, copyright protection is the exception. Since copyright protection is granted only with respect to original forms of expression, the vast majority of data, information and ideas produced worldwide at any given time belongs to the Public Domain. In addition to information that is not eligible for protection, the Public Domain is enlarged every year by works whose term of protection expires. The combined application of the requirements for protection and the limited duration of the copyright protection contribute to the wealth of the Public Domain so as to ensure access to our shared culture and knowledge.
Read it. Sign it. Talk about it.
Cheers.
P. S.Thanks for the comic link, Fred!
P. P. S. If you want to get really fucked up squirrely ass mad about all this corporate ownership of the entire fucking world bullshit be sure to drop by Michael Geist’s blog where he looks at the secret ACTA negotiations that start today in Mexico where this agreement is being designed to extend far beyond counterfeiting and how it will reshape domestic law in many countries, including Canada.
I watched Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso – again – with my wife and son tonight. I love that film and it never fails to reduce me to tears at the very end.
This film is a love letter to cinema and to the passions which drive our lives.
If you haven’t yet seen the film don’t play this video. Go find the movie and watch it. If you have seen the film – this is the very end sequence – enjoy.
The industry of cinema may be dying or reinventing itself but the Art of cinema will live on. One of the great things about the movies was not the recreation of reality but the creation of non-reality.
The techniques of manipulating light to create moving images is centuries old and has been absorbed into our psyche, our culture and our day-to-day vocabulary to such a degree we are no longer the same kind of human beings which existed before the dawn of cinema. I won’t get into arguments as to whether that’s good or bad – it just is.
Newer technologies are calling to us now and changing us further. It always helps to take a look back now and then to remind ourselves where we came from and how far we’ve travelled on this journey of augmented evolution. And it’s fun too!
I found this over at Gizmodo. It’s 100 years of visual effects crammed into 5 minutes.
If you have any others to add go to the Gizmodo post and offer your comments – they’ve allowed for posting of video snips too.
Shouting B-Movies isn’t as cool as shouting WOLVERINES!! but for today it’ll have to do.
My sister, Toni, sent me a link for the AMCTV B-Movies site and it is just chock full of delicious cheese.
Old Roger Corman flicks, Hercules sand and sandal epics, John Carpenter‘s cult fave Dark Star, biker movies and all sorts of really awfully wonderfully crappy drive-in movie fare.
It’s like I’m back in my youth and staying up to the wee hours on a school night just to watch old films on CKVR because my little hole of a town didn’t have a movie theatre.
That’s a long winded way of saying I’ve been busy trying to get the next episode of In Teh Toobs finished – almost done – while also trying to get the Ruffus site launched – not nearly as done as I like to be – while also trying to write a script for another project – I am so fucked on that one – and at the same time trying to write a couple of decent blog posts here that aren’t just lame ass pathetic embeds of somebody else’s cool videos cuz I’m too damned lazy to finish my own shit – guilty as charged – and on top of all that I had to throw together a quick collection of shows I’ve worked on for a possible show runner gig that – knowing my luck – will never see the light of day but I’m keeping my fingers crossed cuz I could use a paying gig right about now.
I'm going to be slowly making some changes to the website both in format and content - and I'm pretty sure even the URL will change.
It's going to be more of a personal news aggregator with a featured video blog from yours truly. We'll see how long that lasts. So bear with me - thanks.
which shows brilliantly how much of what we took for granted as being real in cinema was actually images painted by hand.
It's going to be more of a personal news aggregator with a featured video blog from yours truly. We'll see how long that lasts. So bear with me - thanks.