Flotsam and jetsam today; big work night and even more to come tomorrow. I’d feel guilty about this if I was running a pay site, AND there wasn’t an enormous update over in Black and White World that features some of the wildest, most striking sets in any movie, ever – let alone a small B-picture. But patience.
Speaking of paysites – new piece on the pleasures of small-town boneyards up at theqor.com – but more on that as the week goes on.
Link: Rather old site – at least I hope so – but has some heartbreaking postwar California postcards. Lots of architecture that will appeal to Mad Men fans, even though MM’s period was the start of the age of diseased, confused modernism. (One of the many things the show gets right is the cluttered, fussy domestic interiors; all you have to do is look at the faux-rococo Frenchy infestations in the early 60s hotel brochures, and you know it’s spot-on. For some reason lamps were particularly hit hard. The period between 1962 and 19 . . .oh, I don’t know, 1988? was a nadir of lamp style. Big ceramic monsters with puffy shades, crappy plastic inverted bowls – ugh. It took the rise of the drafting-table lamp, with its utilitarian industrial design, to bring some clarity back to the Lamp Genre. But I don’t know what I’m talking about. I just know I bought a lamp in 1989, and I’d buy it again today, and build an entire room around it – if I went modern, which I won’t.)
Driving to work this morning I heard “Crazy on You” by Heart for the 493,934th time, but this time I listened to it, having previously just thought “Oh, right, change the station.” Wasn’t like I had my hands full; there’s a button on the steering wheel for jumping off to the next well-chewed piece of pop cud. Perhaps because I came in on something other than the chorus, which is the most pedestrian part of the song. The rest is rather good. The chord progressions have the knack of sounding new and inevitable, which is no small trick, and it has the sheen and canny mix 70s songs often did quite well.
That always reminds me of a guy I worked with in a Pizza Hut, who loved “Smoke From a Distant Fire” for its production, not its actual musical quality. I hated that song – eyes have a mist! From a smoke from a dist! Yes your eyes have a mist! From a smoke from a dist! But listen to how the instruments are seperated, he’d say. Stuff like this was invariably described as “tasty,” and invariably played by thin California studio musicians with close-cropped beards, aviator glasses – smoked, of course, perhaps by a fire in closer proximity – and stupid Chuck Mangione hats. Oh, the twaddle that filled the jukeboxes then. The banality of the radio. It was lamp-bad.
Don’t get me started on TV of the era. But do get me started on TV today: I forgot to record “V” the other night, and if I’d had a TiVo it might have realized I wanted to see it. My new DVR couldn’t care less what I want. I don’t ask it to record, it doesn’t. Hey, I just work here, don’t ask me. I found myself looking for it on iTunes – nope – or Hulu – not yet – and this almost brought back the era of childhood TV, where you got one shot, and there wasn’t any pausing it for a phone call or a bathroom break or to get another shot of salt for the popcorn. Records you could play over right away; a movie you could see if you sat in your chair and waited for the next showing. TV happened in real time. No cliffhangers, either; no “story arcs.” Each ep was a self-contained tale to which few other episodes would ever refer. Exceptions: Star Trek, which may explain why it was so popular and seemed so different. Characters didn’t return, except for Harcourt Fenton Etcetera, but entire species did, bringing with them backstories and characteristics around which the fanboy could build all sorts of giddy nerdy speculation. Some of the shows had recurring villains – Dr. Loveless, on the great “Wild Wild West,” and the best heavy of them all, Wo Fat, in “Hawaii 5-0.” Courtly, merciless, worldly: perfect ChiCom foil. By then the Russian agents were either Commubots without emotion, or a fanciful projection of our own hopes: they were Russians in the classic Romantic, soulful sense, in Europe but not of it. They always loved to quote poetry. Take away the liquor and the lit, and the longing to be regarded as the inheritors of the Enlightment, and you had the Chinese Communists – the real Red Menace, because those dudes were cold.
I’d love to see a study of the way Russian Communists were portrayed after, oh, 1963, 64. At the height of the Peril they were hard, hard mofos – listen to some old radio shows like “I Was a Communist for the FBI,” and you’ll hear what I mean. It’s not quite Borees and Natasha territory, but close; anyone allied with the cause was a heartless SOB, ruled by fear and cruelty. The shows seem quaint now, but of course we’re not living an era where half of Europe is occupied by an illiberal claque of oligarchical collectivists. Anyway: somewhere in the 60s we invented the concept of the Cuddly Commie, someone who was either amusingly harmless, a blowhard with a bagful of reheated cliches, or the world-weary literate fellow who was really just as free as us, in a way, and thus an argument for the fatuity of a bipolar world. This idea took a long time to expire, and was last seen in a Star Trek: Next Gen episode, where Picard says “can you believe that people once went to war for different economic systems.” As if that was the small sticking point.
They never quite explain how Roddenberry’s vision of a future without money or religion evolved, or worked, or managed to fill the needs in the human spirit that find manifestation in, oh, things like money, or religion. Trek characters were allowed religion if was based on a non-divine dead guy, be he Surak or Ka’less, but eventually they got old-time religion X 10 with the Bajorans – who started out as sorta-kinda Palestinian stand-ins, but turned into your basic New-Age guys with a priest class and a doctrine built around omniscient, distant god-types who lived in a wormhole and could make anything happen, except granting Avery Brooks the power of personal warmth. And I say that as someone who loved, loved “Deep Space Nine,” and consider it the best of the post original-series shows. Better characters, better plots, better battles. Ronald D. Moore FTW, as the kids say.
So anyway. That’s it. Now: Black and White World. Enjoy!
Say, the electric chair in Stranger On The Third Floor appears to belong to Lily Thomlin’s “Edith Ann”.
And that’s the truth.
It appears that the majority of that film’s budget was spent on shadows. I imagine that the 5 gallon economy bucket o’ shadows wasn’t even close to enough, and they had to use a tanker truck. Clean up must of been a chore too.
Love, love, love those L.A. postcards – it really was the place to be during that era. One thing, though, that’s missing: smog. It was pretty bad then, before the advent of unleaded gasoline, catalytic converters and the other tools of early-era pollution control. But they did something about it; by the mid-’60s Detroit was building “California Emissions” versions of cars.
You can tell a ‘66-’67 Ford/Lincoln/Mercury built for California sale by its rudimentary air pump system, which injected air into the engine’s exhaust stream.
They never quite explain how Roddenberry’s vision of a future without money or religion evolved, or worked, or managed to fill the needs in the human spirit that find manifestation in, oh, things like money, or religion.
I thought this was a failing when I watched it in first run. But I loved it anyway. A much better take on what the future could be like was Babylon 5. I never warmed to DS9, Voyager, or Enterprise. But B5 grabbed me and didn’t let go. Religion was handled well in B5, to the point that one episode that dealt with some Christian monks on the station was nominated for some awards for TV that handled religion well. The series creator and writer of that episode J. Michael Straczynski daid:
“If you look at the long history of human society, religion – whether you describe that as organized, disorganized, or the various degrees of accepted superstition – has always been present. And it will be present 200 years from now… To totally ignore that part of the human equation would be as false and wrong-headed as ignoring the fact that people get mad, or passionate, or strive for better lives.”
That J. Michael Straczynski quote may be the shrewdest thing ever said by someone in the entertainment industry.
Once I thought more deeply about the sort of society that would have no sort of money or commerce, and yet could produce a massive fleet of star cruisers and an accompanying paramilitary force, TNG (indeed, the whole Star Trek world) became a far more ominous show.
good production and a good chart got a lot of blah music onto the charts. some of it “music.”
I like good technicals, too. but there has to be some “there” there as well. I’ve kept for almost 40 years a radio-promo 45 with dynamite bones, great production, never drops below -7 on the meter, lovely interplay across the instrument field, a sure hit. on a label that should have guaranteed sales among the folks who admire everything the A&R guys from () ever turned up.
with loser lyric content on par with a basement-dwelling 7th grader who can’t get kissed and is trying to upscale the experience so it sells to real kids who are developing a real life.
and that’s the A side.
an object lesson in how much satin a pig really should wear.
No kidding they were successful. Look who’s in charge!
http://rlv.zcache.com/barack_obama_socialism_joker_pink_sticker-p217597787856585415tdcj_525.jpg
I think that’s the proof enough.
Thank you, Rob, for this post. I have tried, unsuccessfully, to make this case in conversation as you do so succinctly in so few words. Well done. Your Google references will supply much fodder next time I make the attempt.
What you outline is the basis of what shaped the present-day Democrat party, the personal philosophy of people like Barack Obama, and the prevalence of political correctness and the government-nanny culture. I’m not saying Obama, Pelosi, the Clintons, et al. are Soviet-era Communists. I’m saying they are the next best (or worst) thing.
I hope everyone checks out the Google references to “Boris Morros” and “Yuri Bezmenov”.
I’ve tried to post a comment here several times today, but ix-nay. No prob posting earlier in the week. Maybe I’m doing something that is no-go for comments. Is there a FAQ or rules on how to post here?
Those postcards are heart breaking, living in upper California, I often forget how much I love(d) LA.
In the SF bay area they expect you to hate LA for no good reason (I grew closer to LA). I can tell you right now, I think people are friendlier in LA than SF, and LA no one cares if you like SF.
@Borderman
best I can tell there are certain tabu words related to spam that blocks posting and darned if I have all of them figured out.
I re-write hoping I accidentally discover “the word”
I liked Enterprise but didn’t love it. I never bought Scott Bakula as Capt. Archer because he just can’t do “tough.” Smart, yes. Witty, yes. But every time he had to face down a villain, I always expected, after the villain slunk (slinked?) away, that he would slump and sigh, “Hoo boy.” The Male Partner of my house shared the sentiment of many that Jolene Blalock was the hottest. vulcan. evar. and boy, could they–I mean she–act.
There was much to admire in all of the iterations of Star Trek to date, and I doubt I missed an episode of any of them. But I am here to tell ya right now that I am totally on board for the Chris Pine/Zachary Quinto/et al New Original Series! Can we have some moar, pls?
@bgbear (roger h)
I concur with this. I live in Redondo Beach, near LA. Many years ago I visited my brother who lived for a short time in Vallejo, near SF. During this visit I discovered that there is apparently an intense rivalry between LA and SF that nobody in LA is aware of. I have never met anyone in my 34 years here that considered SF to be a rival or hated it because of this rivalry, yet it apparently is real up there.
OK, problem solved. Thanks, bgbear. No URLs. At least for me.
What I wanted to post was…
No kidding they were successful. Look who’s in the White House! I think that’s all the proof we need (all I need anyway) the demoralization projects were a rousing success.
What you outline is the basis of what shaped the present-day left wing of the Democrat party, the personal philosophy of people like Barack Obama, and the rise and dominance of political correctness and the government-nanny culture. I’m not saying Obama, Pelosi, the Clintons, et al. are Soviet-era Communists. No, no. I’m saying their disdain for the traditional values of this country are directly descended from the demoralization projects.
I hope everyone checks out the Google references to “Boris Morros” and “Yuri Bezmenov”.
Thank you, Rob, for this post. I have tried, unsuccessfully, to make this case in conversation as you do so succinctly in so few words. Well done. I had no knowledge of these names until today. No doubt your Google references will supply much fodder for a better presentation next time I make the attempt.
Roddenberry’s universe wasn’t a product of evolution. It was created ex nihilo.
If I were Fritz Lang I’d have demanded the arrest of the cimematographer of your noir film for stealing all my lighting cues from M. To say nothing of using them all over again with Peter Lorre.
“Maybe some day I’ll run across another person who agrees with me that Enterprise was the best post-TOS Trek series.”
I rank it second, behind TOS. Voyager was probably the worst of the bunch for me, though I did watch most of it, because any new Trek is good Trek, especially when there is no other new Trek to watch.
I liked Enterprise because the ship had flat-panel monitors, and switches that had labels on them, and warning/caution labels, and stuff would sometimes not work correctly, or break down, just like in real life. Oh, and Captain Archer had a pet Beagle named Porthos (though Picard did have his fishtank, but goldfish don’t even come close to owning a dog.) I read that a lot of the gadgets and controls on the NX-01 Enterprise’s bridge were taken from junk aircraft.
@Ed Singel
It’s an inadequacy thing. Just like people in Sacramento feel inadequate to those in San Francisco. It’s like being a younger sibling in a big family. I’ve been all over our state, and everyplace has something incredible to offer.
San Francisco is beautiful – or it was. It still is if you squint. It has fifty-footer syndrome – it looks best from fifty feet away.
Los Angeles is so diverse, both geographically and in terms of Urban / Suburban.
San Diego is fabulous.
Driving though wide swaths of the farmland of the Central Valley is impressive, as is riding through the areas north, like Chico, Redding, and Eureka. The main impression of California for me is that it so closely resembles the Mediterranean. Yet we have the deserts in the south, and the alpine area near Lake Tahoe. It’s all so impressive to look at.
Except Fresno.
But that’s just because Sacramento needs a rivalry where we can actually hold some hope of winning. Maybe. Someday.
That’s the impression I got when looking at those L.A. shots – a bit of sadness because it was much better back then. There is one of a billboard offering houses one block from Huntington Beach for $12,500 to $15,300!
My parents moved from back east to California in March, 1960. My mom says her first impression was like paradise (lovely and green in the springtime, with nice mild temperatures).
“V” will be on the ABC website on Saturday, Nov. 7. Or so those sneaky little lizards claim.
@juanito – John Davey
Even Fresno is just a two hour scenic drive from Yosemite.
I’ve always found California to be an amazing conglomeration of geography and culture, full of interesting and friendly people.
Now, if we could only get a government worthy of it.
My mistake–saw it at George Eastman House.
@Ed Singel
Exactly. More-so a government worthy of us.
And I kid about Fresno, because when you’re on the losing end of the Sacramento / San Francisco self-esteem tussle, you gotta take it where you can get it.
Really I should have said Bakersfield.
There’s weirdness in the spam-catcher – sometimes too-frequent attempts or lots of links, or both, get you put in the spam bin, and I usually check that at day’s end. (Busy.) I’ll make sure to look tonight to see if there’s something that was unfairly deemed spamtastic. And thanks for commenting!
I love those L.A. postcards. The vehicular cluster fluffs at the uncontrolled intersections are a hoot
Cuddly Commies? I guess it’s just me but I don’t find the likes of The Obahmessiah, Mommy Pelosi, Harry “C C Boi” Reed, ad nauseam, very cuddable, heh heh
After reading this in the afternoon, guess the name of the first song I heard when I got home last night? Yep, “Smoke of a Distant Fire”.
Yikes. I like my oldies, even some of the cheesier ones, but that one is pretty painful.
I was C-Span last weekend and there was a guy giving a presentation about some journals written by the KGB Agent in charge of all the spies in the US. The infiltration ran deep in the academia, entertainment and news media circles. Many on the left, while not supporters of Communism, just didn’t care. So when an agent would try to recruit them, they would decline, but they wouldn’t report it either. As such, agents could move around rather freely in these circles without fear of being exposed, as nobody really saw them as a threat. A lot of the recruits were also just in it for the money, at least the ones that were actively transferring state secrets.
@juanito – John Davey
OK, I’ll grant you Bakersfield.
I heard “Smoke of a Distant Fire” in the grocery store today and now I’ve got the damned horn hook from it stuck in my head!
If there’s no money, why would I sign up for one of those really crummy jobs in the bowels of space ships?