Uncategorized Archives - Page 57 of 1211

Animated Oscar-nominated shorts

John and Yoko

My wife and I saw the animated Oscar-nominated shorts at the Spectrum Theatre. The parking lot was packed on Presidents Day at 4 pm, with moviegoers trying to squeeze in another visit before the cinema’s – we hope – temporary closing.

Just because the stories are animated doesn’t mean the subject matter is light. As the LA Times noted, “Even when they focus on the experiences of children, the five films nominated … are decidedly intended for adults. In these emotionally complex and visually distinctive shorts, the trauma of war, the wages of political repression, and the fear of death are all given their due. The Hollywood Theatre notes: Not for children under 13, verging on an R-rating.

The nominees

Our Uniform: Yegane Moghaddam, 7 min., Iran (in Farsi). The film flashes a message at the top that it was not mocking the wearing of the hijab. Indeed, the director was recalling her recollections of school days in Iran. Does the dress code enable or disable self-expression? Maybe both? An exciting technique was used, with the images created on fabric with the help of a computer.

Letter to a Pig: Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter, 17 min., France/Israel (in Hebrew). An elderly Holocaust survivor visits a class of teenagers and tells how a pig saved his life. The story segues to a dream sequence experienced by one of the students. Kantor’s childhood memories informed the film’s mixture of history and the surreal.

South of France

Pachyderm: Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius, 11 min., USA (in English). A young girl recounts her summers visiting her grandparents in the Provençal countryside. On the surface, enhanced by the painted scenes and quiet narration, it would seem all is well. But it is not, as the girl blends in with her background. This may be the most fully realized of the five and the one I’d pick to win the Oscar.

Ninety-Five Senses: Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess, 13 min., USA (in English). The folksy narrator is Tim Blake Nelson, who offers an ode to the human body. The New York Times review stated, “Each sense is illustrated by different artists, in a different style, creating a kind of 13-minute anthology of a life — but that makes this understated film also feel a bit incoherent, with the vignettes lacking the build to bring the film to a satisfying emotional conclusion.” I liked the variation of styles, and I disagree with the conclusion drawn. It was my favorite piece.

War is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko: Dave Mullins and Brad Booker, 11 min., USA. The story is based on an idea from John and Yoko’s son, Sean. In an alternate-reality World War I, war should only be experienced as a game. It is the most obvious of the five films.

Additional films

ShortsTV often offers other “highly recommended” films to fill up the running time.

Wild Summons: Karni Arieli and Saul Freed, 14 min., UK (in English, narrated by Marianne Faithfull). This is mostly humanoid creaturesa s salmon. It is quite on the nose.

I’m Hip: John Musker, 4 min., USA. You can see a tiny bit of the cartoon in the first minute of this interview with Musker.

Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame 2024 nominees

Blige, Carey, Cher, Matthews, Eric B., Foreigner, Frampton, Jane’s., Kool, Kravitz, Oasis, O’Connor, Osbourne, Sade, Quest.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2024 nominees were announced recently. They are Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Eric B. & Rakim, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Jane’s Addiction, Kool & the Gang, Lenny Kravitz, Oasis, Sinéad O’Connor, Ozzy Osbourne, Sade & A Tribe Called Quest.

Yes, please don’t tell me it doesn’t matter. I might even agree with you. But I loved visiting Cleveland in 1998 and 2016 to see the exhibits anyway.

For some years, I know precisely which three or four people I would vote for in the fan ballot, for which you can vote until April 26. I vigorously supported underappreciated artists such as Fela Kuti, John Prine, and Warren Zevon when they were recently on the ballot, but they were not inducted.

The nominees

This year, there was only one sure thing: Cher. Curiously, I don’t have any of her albums, though she does appear on compilations I own. She’s gone from being a background singer for Phil Spector to her days with Sonny Bono to becoming an icon. I watched her shows with and without Bono. Not that it’s particularly relevant here, but she was good in a trio of 1980s movies: Silkwood, Mask, and Moonstruck. Absolutely YES.

I scattered my votes – one can vote for seven instead of five this year – among 11 artists.

Mary J. Blige: I have none of her music. Yet her influence is well-documented. PROBABLY YES.

Mariah Carey – I have her greatest hits album on CD. Still, I didn’t bother voting for her because 1) she’ll get in without my help, and 2) she has a five-octave voice, which she often uses unnecessarily to the music’s detriment. NO

Dave Matthews Band – I don’t own any of the music. A funny thing about me and Dave Mathews: I saw him at the Willie Nelson 90th birthday bash and the Rock Hall induction, and I NEVER recognized him, visually or sonically. MAYBE.

Eric B. & Rakim – I don’t own their music, but I appreciate their contribution. MAYBE.

Foreigner – I have a couple of their LPs and some irritating live CD. MAYBE.

An old Ray Charles song

Peter Frampton – I have Frampton Comes Alive. But my YES vote comes from his brief tenure with Humble Pie, particularly Rockin’ The Filmore, an LP I own. Specifically, I Don’t Need No Doctor was a staple of FM radio in the 1970s.

Jane’s Addiction is a group I don’t own, but again, I recognize their importance, in this case, to alternative rock. MAYBE.

Kool & the Gang – I have one of their LPs. Of course, it contains Celebration. And Pulp Fiction brought back Jungle Boogie. I am inclined to favor older acts, and they first charted in 1969. YES.

Lenny Kravitz – There are a LOT of artists for which I have one of their albums. I have one Kravitz CD. MAYBE

Oasis – Ditto. MAYBE.

Sinéad O’Connor – I have only her albums, the one with Nothing Compares 2 U, a video that has always gutted me. And it was before she died. But she became a probably YES after I heard the Coverville tribute to her.

Ozzy Osbourne – I wasn’t into Black Sabbath. Ozzy, I know more as a personality on that MTV show. He’ll get in, I’m sure. NO.

Sade – Lovely voice. I own one of her albums. Also, Rebecca Jade will be doing a show of Sade songs plus her own in Philadelphia on my next birthday. MAYBE.

A Tribe Called Quest – They show up on a couple of my compilations, and I love what they do. YES.

Voting

So that’s six YES or PROBABLY YES, two NO, seven MAYBE. I’ll admit to a certain bias. In Bernie Taupin’s acceptance speech, he pointedly lifted up articulate women and black people. It was a clear rebuke of Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner and his comments about why his then-current book included only white men. The statement got Wenner removed from the board of directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation.

Who would you vote for?

The folks who decide on the new inductees can also select people in the category of Musical Excellence, which “shall be given to artists, musicians, songwriters and producers whose originality and influence creating music have had a dramatic impact on music.” Taupin, the lyricist for most of Elton John’s songs, was selected this way.

Besides Kuti, Prine, and Zevon, I’d like to see more of the Wrecking Crew picked, particularly Carol Kaye, who created the bass line for Sonny and Cher’s The Beat Goes On in the studio. They should also pick Glen Campbell, a mighty guitarist, before having success as a singer.

STAX

Finally, they need Estelle Axton, the co-founder of STAX Records, in, as I have been nagging about since 2015. As I noted, her brother, Jim Stewart, was inducted in 2002! My late friend Dustbury opined: ” So why is Stewart in the Hall and Axton not? Because Stewart, who couldn’t comprehend contract law, signed all those early Stax masters over to Atlantic, and at the Hall, Ahmet Ertegun sits at the right hand of God. Estelle, had she seen the paperwork, would have figured out the deal from day one.”

Estelle Axton for the ROCK HALL. Estelle Axton for the ROCK HALL. Oh, and Estelle Axton for the ROCK HALL.

Movie review: The Boys In The Boat

directed by George Clooney

On Thursday, February 15, I was having a cinematic emergency. I received word in my newsfeed from the Albany Times Union that the Spectrum 8 Theatre in Albany would be closing in a week. While there was some hope that another entity could come in and bring films to the venerable venue, it would definitely be closed for at least a week starting Friday, February 23, smack in the middle of Oscar season!

Moreover, my dear wife gave me a $100 gift card for Landmark for Valentine’s Day! How will I possibly use it up? I checked the list of movies playing and discovered that The Boys In The Boat was leaving the theater after that day.

The movie: “A 1930s-set story centered on the University of Washington’s rowing team, from their Depression-era beginnings to winning gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.”

Joe (Callum Turner), even by Depression standards, was born on the wrong side of the tracks. He was trying to better himself by attending college. The bad news is that he was quickly running out of money, with part-time jobs largely unavailable. When the opportunity to row crew came up, it was his last best shot.

And then…

Here’s the problem: you know what happens. That’s not always a detriment in movies. I’ve seen stories based on events that left me on the edge of my seat. This adaptation of Daniel James Brown’s book was not one of them.

Still, there were some enjoyable bits. I learned about a sport I’d never considered; it is exceedingly difficult. The coach emeritus, George (Peter Guinness), becomes Joe’s surrogate father. He’s less at arm’s length than the primary coach, Al (Joel Edgerton). A pretty young woman from Joe’s past, Joyce (Hadley Robinson), keeps flirting with him.

For someone who lives not far from the Hudson River, the Poughkeepsie Regatta segment was a hoot. The scenes in Nazi Germany don’t require much to creep me out a little.

The Boys In The Boat is a… nice movie, directed by George Clooney, a person who has directed several movies I’ve seen which I enjoyed a bit more. Critics gave it only a 58% positive score, but the audience was 97% favorable. Even a positive review used the phrase “unapologetically formulaic tale.” For what it is, it’s fine.

BTW, a PBS presentation called The Boys of ’36 was based on the same book. I was unaware of it until recently.

Presidents Day: the zero curse

1840-1960

After John F. Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, I remember reading about the zero curse. Going back to 1840, every President elected in a year ending in zero died in office.

This is how we ended up with three Presidents during both 1841 and 1881.

1840: President is Martin Van Buren. William Henry Harrison, the last president born as a British subject, was elected

1841, March 4: WHH is inaugurated

1841, April 4: WHH dies, perhaps of pneumonia, but more likely from septic shock. John Tyler, who ended up having 15 children, became President. He still has a living grandson.

1860: Abraham Lincoln was elected.

1864: Lincoln was reelected.

1865, April 14: Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth and died the next day when Andrew Johnson became President.

1880: Rutherford Birchard Hayes is President.

1880: James Abram Garfield was elected President and inaugurated the following March 4

1881, July 2: Garfield is shot by Charles J. Guiteau over a perceived political slight

1881, September 19: Garfield dies, probably from sepsis. Chester Alan Arthur became President.

1896: William McKinley is elected and inaugurated the following March 4

20th century

1900: McKinley is re-elected and inaugurated the following March 4

1901, September 6: McKinley is shot by Leon Czolgosz

1901, September 14: McKinley dies from the shot and gangrene. Theodore Roosevelt, the first sitting President to make a diplomatic trip abroad, took office. He was also the youngest person to become President.

1920: Warren Gamaliel Harding is elected and inaugurated the following March 4

1923, August 2: Harding died, likely from a cardiac arrest, though it was thought at the time it was a cerebral hemorrhage. Calvin Coolidge, the only President born on the 4th of July (1872), was sworn in early the following morning. He was visiting his family in Vermont. “His father, a notary public and justice of the peace, administered the oath of office in the family’s parlor by the light of a kerosene lamp at 2:47 a.m. on August 3, 1923, whereupon the new President of the United States returned to bed.”

1932, 1936: Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected, then reelected president, inaugurated the following March.

1940: FDR was reelected and inaugurated the following March.

1944: FDR was reelected and inaugurated the following March.

1945, April 12: FDR died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Harry S. Truman, his third Vice-President after John Nance Garner (two terms) and Henry A. Wallace became President.

1960: John Fitzgerald Kennedy was elected and inaugurated the following January 20. He was the youngest person elected President and also the youngest President at the end of his tenure.

1963, November 22: JFK was shot and killed by Lee Harvey Oswald and possibly another. Lyndon Baines Johnson became President.

another Teddy

When Ted Kennedy, the youngest child of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, contemplated running for President in 1980, I was extremely worried for him. All of his brothers died violent deaths. On August 12, 1944, Joe and Rose’s eldest child, Joe Jr., “a Navy pilot, was killed on an air mission.” The second child, JFK, was assassinated, as was the seventh child, Robert Francis Kennedy, in June 1968 while running for President.

Fortunately, Teddy was unable to describe why he wanted the office, and he lost the Democratic nomination to the incumbent, Jimmy Carter, who was the first President born in a hospital. In 1979, he was also the first to light the National Menorah, officially observing Hanukkah celebrations.

Of course, Ronald Reagan, the Republican, was elected in 1980 and was inaugurated the following January 20. On March 30, 1981, Reagan was shot by John Hinckley. Was the curse still in effect? Fortunately, no. I didn’t vote for him, but I didn’t want him getting killed.

Not incidentally, knowing this arcane stuff has made remembering the Presidents in order easier. The only President to die in office who didn’t fit the pattern was Zachary Taylor, elected in 1848, inaugurated on March 4 of the next year, died on July 9, 1950 from circumstances still under debate. Millard Fillmore succeeded him. There were four Whig party Presidents: WH Harrison, Tyler, Taylor, and Fillmore, who collectively served only eight years.

Sunday Stealing – Music

In the Garden of Eden

Sunday Stealing – Music? But I’m ALWAYS about music!

Name a song that…

1. You enjoy, in another language.

Petula Clark recorded Downtown in Italian as Ciao Ciao. She also did Sign of the Times in French as Si tu prenais le temps. She also sang in German.

2. Recently introduced you to a new singer

I hear many artists on CBS Saturday Morning, specifically the Saturday Sessions—quite a few I like. Brittany Spencer sings If You Say So.

3. You listen to in order to energize

Too many choices! Because Michael McDonald’s birthday was this week, Takin’ It To The Streets by the Doobie Brothers.

4. Is your favorite song from a musical.

Maybe Tradition from Fiddler On The Roof. I’m pretty sure Alexander Hamilton from Hamilton is the most parodied recently.

5. Reminds you of an old love

Harvest Moon by Neil Young still makes me very sad.

6. Make you think of one of your children

Motown Philly by Boyz 2 Men or some other ’90s soul that came out before she was born.

Did not use a metronome

7. Makes you smile when you hear it.

Do What You Want To by Billy Preston. I love that it ends far faster than it starts. This is also true of When You Dance, I Can Really Love by Neil Young.

8. You love but is quite unknown

Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic by Isaac Hayes from Hot Buttered Soul

9. That annoys you.

Honey by Bobby Goldsboro. Cloying dreck.

10. That your parents used to listen to.

I thought of this song because of an article about fads. 45 Men A Telephone Booth by The Four Tophatters was a single my father owned. I bought a compilation CD largely because of this song.

11. From your early years of childhood

Bird Dog by the Everly Brothers, which my father also owned.

12. That has a color in the title.

Green Tambourine by The Lemon Pipers, naturally.

13. That needs to be played loud.

I’m So Glad by Cream, the live version from Goodbye, Cream.

14. That is perfect for a road trip.

ONE song? It’s a road trip. It needs LOTS of songs! In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly to start.

15. That reminds you of yourself.

I’ll go with the usual: Bein’ Green by Kermit the Frog