I still don’t know what to make of this.
Wall to fargin’ wall, this one: drop off child at the morning “class” – it’s actually web-design workshop, where she learns some code – and then race home to plug in Skype and have an interview with the Governor for the Ricochet podcast. During the chat I fired off a few posts I’d penned right after I got up: the clock now starts ten minutes after I get up, which is the downside of working at home. Also the upside: you can slide down the dino tail before the Official Quitting Time of 5, because you know you’ll be working later that day. I prefer the endless smear to the hard-and-fast demarcations of the old-style workplace, but it has its problems. When there’s no quitting time, there’s no sense of being truly free from the machinery. But the incremental freedoms throughout the day compensate.
It’ll only get worse next week, when the daily videos start up. But I mean “worse” in the context of “being busy being employed doing stuff I like,” which is not “worse” at all, but “reasons for weeping fits of gratitude.”
Oh, I could be watching a movie right now; started one last night, and regretted it right away. “An American Dream.” Mid-60s, which means “American” is intended in the sense of “inflated, unexamined, inherently poisonous thing whose meaning is barren and ironic.” Based on a book by Norman Mailer. It’s about a TV talk-show host who kills his wife. By “talk-show” I mean he answers phones, on TV, and we hear only his side of the conversation, and then he fires loaded questions at jelly-kneed guests. Did such a thing ever exist? The dialogue is overheated and ridiculous, but the credits intrigued: produced by William Conrad, of all people, and there’s a small role for George Takei. So I will watch it in 15 minute intervals over the next week, eating my small bag of popcorn to stave off the gnawing hunger of the diet, shutting everything down before I trudge up to bed with the conviction nothing more can, or should, or must, be done.
Tomorrow I begin the computer equivalent of a fast and a high colonic: swapping out the main hard drive for a new one. Oh do tell me more, you say. Fine: the old “green” drive,” which is slow – I mean Wilfred Brimley walking on ice slow – will be replaced with a faster one, but I will not restore the data from the backup. Everything will be added one item at a time.
Including iTunes.
Now. I have a billion songs in my iTunes, and I don’t like most of them. It’s a wasteland of stuff I think I need to have in iTunes because I may have liked it once. Or thought I needed it. This is what annoys me about iTunes – you can’t just use it to play a song, you have to store the song in the program, and – you there, in the back, waving your hand?
I’m sorry but you can play songs in the Finder, either by using QuickLook or the preview pane in the columns option. Most power users know this.
Why, you’re right! You can use QuickLook, except that the window disappears if you do anything else. And while you can play it in the preview pane, the new improved version does not allow you to scrub through a song as you could before, so if you mistakenly close the window you lose your place. Satisfied, you smug little prig?
Where was I? Right: pruning. So I’m adding everything back with an eye – or an ear, ha! – to whether I actually want to hear the song again ever as long as I live. Same with fonts. Same with all the programs. Nuke & pave and clear out the cruft, install Windows 7 as well, and while I’m at it, completely rejigger the way I store and sort information. You get set in certain ways, certain styles of saving and arranging, and I’m just in the sort of mad, crazy mood to rethink my filing paradigms.
Mentioned “Pennies from Heaven” a few weeks ago. It’s one of the soundtrack that will stay on the playlist; even after all these years those versions make me want to slide down the hallway Christopher-Walken style and annoy my daughter. As you may know and not care, the movie came from a Dennis Potter BBC series, which was better in almost ever possible way. Compare-and-contrast gives you an interesting look at Hollywood vs. BBC TV. These are short but telling – and it’s a great tune, anyway.
First, the American version. There’s so much about this that doesn’t work – the kids, for one – but Lordy, Bernadette Peters. It’s a great song, and the modern addition really starts to earn its keep around 1:54.
And here’s how it was done in the British version. Darker, creepier, cheaper. Better.
Friday links:
And 30s ads, with a batch of peculiar cigarette ads.
And the usual here and there and everywhere – Popcrush, Strib column, Twitter, Ricochet. It’s Friday! That means pizza, my friends, and the glorious summer weekend. Enjoy, and I’ll see you soon.
Pass it along, if you wish
47 Responses to Friday! (With Out of Context Ad solution)
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You can file the remake of “Pennies From Heaven” in the same dustbin as the equally pointless remake of “Get Carter”. Both were perfect in their original form.
The reason you’ve never heard someone exclaim with disgust as they grind out a “dusty” smoke(“germy”–I dunno: when I worked as a tobacconist, the few all-natural specialty cigarettes on the market, like Nat Sherman’s, might harbor tobacco bugs–or mold, if they got & stayed very damp, but that’s pretty rare in these days of climate controlled buildings)is it’s been a few decades since commercial coffin nails rose or fell on the merits of the tobacco used alone. In order to have the same(more or less) flavor for a given brand & not have it dry out(as the demon weed will when stale), cigarette makers use a _lot_ of additives. And trust me, the “dust”–powder from repeated handling/crumbling of tobacco–even from a blend of excellent tobaccos, does not smoke well. I make my own, & it’s always a debate with myself about how cheap I want to be about the tiniest bits left in the humidor. Hate to waste it, but it’s usually a raw, nasty smoke.
And not to quibble (much) but “humidor” has nothing to do with germs. It has to do with keeping tobacco moist (humid), and prevent drying out.
Besides, everybody knows – LSMFT.
OK, I don’t want to start a whole thread here, but.
I think there are a couple of differences between the BBC PFH and Steve Martin’s:
1. The remake was trying to evoke not just the songs of the 30s, but the movies, as well. That classroom scene (and many others) could have come right out of a Busby Berkley movie. Talk about creepy, just rewatch the Chris Walken scene from a few days ago.
2. If the BBC had decent budgets, they might have done the same thing. The scene was well done, but “darker”? “creepier”? Cheaper, certainly (no costume or set changes, fewer and less-talented kid actors/dancers). “Better”? I guess, like everything, it’s in the eye of the beholder.
I say that having never seen the BBC version, apart from that short clip. But I love the remake.
Anything that can be played in iTunes can be played in QuickTime Player. You can right-click (ctrl-click, two-fingers-on-the-trackpad-click) and select “Open With”.
Speaking of Lawrence Tierney (weren’t we?) …
“Born to Kill” (1947) with Claire Trevor and bonus Trek connections in Elisha Cook, Jr. and director Robert Wise. Not a redeeming character in the lot, but you watch to see just how low everyone can sink. Recommended by … me! That’s right, me! Void where prohibited.
How about a “MST3K connection:” Gene Roth or Merritt Stone? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8yUsNqynHo
Re “Pennies…”: The main difference in the two versions is that Cheryl Campbell is sexy and Bernadette Peters is not.
I’d just like to say, Al, you’re insane.
ad #2:
“Congratulations on your improved cellophane wrapper. I can open it.”
This must be close to the definition of “damning with faint praise.”
ad #3:
You don’t hear “That’s white of you” too much anymore.
And, to whomever made the PFH YouTube video, it’s lipSYNCHing, not “sinking.”
Jeebus…
Ah, you sad sacks with your silly “GUI” applications for enjoying audio.
> mplayer -novideo -shuffle /home/Music/*/*.ogg
Actually, your slightly insane Mac probably has a build of mplayer and I know y’alls have a terminal emulator (does OS10 use tcsh or bash by default, though? I can’t recall).
No, the British version was creepier. Look at the looks on the kids’ faces. The kids in the British version are sharing the teacher’s sexual fantasies. The American kids are just on the job, doing the Busby Berkley thing for the sake of the spectacle and a paycheck.
Tierney on Seinfeld is one of my favorite episodes. I’ve never really seen him in anything other than that (and, of course, Reservoir Dogs). Wow, did he change!
Al: While I agree that Cheryl Campbell is way sexy, I must defend Ms. Peters’ allure. Maybe not so much anymore, but back about 30 years ago, she was a major hottie.
A side story about Bernadette: Back in the mid-80s, I dated a girl who helped run an animal talent agency. They’d supply dogs, horses, whatever was needed for things like ads or TV, etc. I was invited along to a LIFE Magazine photo shoot featuring Bernadette in a bubble bath, holding a dove aloft on her finger. She was wearing a flesh-colored bathing suit with a top that came straight across the decolletage. The photographer tried a few times to get her to lower the suit (just to get a better shot, you know…). She refused. Had to hand it to her.
And yes, that “lipsinking” annoyed me, too!
He can open the cellophane wrapper. What I want to know: were other ciggy packs’ cello wrappers glued better? Thicker? Reinforced with steel threads? Why I’m even asking/wondering?
AS good as the BBC Pennies From Heaven Was, The Singing Detective was even better and the difference between that the American version with Downey was light years, not even close.
Al, I must respectfully disagree with you here. I mean we all have our own tastes, and mine have never run to redheads, but come on man! Bernadette Peters, (as he runs through Tex Avery’s pantheon of inappropriate male reactions to hotties) was just too much!
Bernadette: Go for the song tribute for George Burns, stay for the Farm Film Celebrity Blow Up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1QRxu-FLB0
I had the same Tex Avery reactions to the still photos in the above link…
There was a TV show in LA called “Talk Back with George Putnam” (there was also a radio version). It was pretty much a conservative version of Phil Donahue.
Putnam is best known outside of LA as the guy in “Perversion for Profit” a now humorous anti-porno film from the 60s.
Pennies from Heaven has one thing going for it: it’s from an era when Steve Martin was still trying to do something new and different; not The Jerk 2.
MS. Peters had the greatest line in a sadly short lived sitcom called “All’s Fair.” She commented to her co-star Richard Crenna, “By now, even our germs are shacking up together.” A line my then fiancee, now my dearly beloved wife found hilarious and has used ever since.
“Bernadette Peters Lipsinking.”
So many jokes, so little time.
I liked Pennies From Heaven, and I also liked Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid.
I vigorously condemn Steve Martin’s turns at Sgt. Bilko and Inspector Clouseau.
Bernadette Peters back in the late 70s and early 80s had a toned down Betty Boop quality. But man, can she belt out a tune.
James, you should really think about a few virtual machines and replicate your data and programs there. A linux box acting as host for the various OSes with some big drives (RAID) and a bunch of RAM, and your backups / snapshots are fast, easy, and portable between machines. said the man with four servers, and a network rack at home, complete with the requisite electric bill. Sorry – don’t listen to me…
@Mark E. Hurling: I remember that sitcom, but could never remember the name. I think Bernadette must have been 18 years old when she did that show!
For anyone that is interested, the podcast James appears on can be found at Ricochet.com or on iTunes here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ricochet-podcast/id353005490
Bernadette Peters did the voice of Rita the cat in “Rita and Runt” part of the “Animaniacs”.
There is one episode called “Les Miseranimals” and she really belts out some great songs.
Don’t shame me, folks, but I watched “Beach Blanket Bingo” on TCM last night. What a mess! But Linda Evans was lovely back then, and Don Rickles had a scene where he was insulting everyone right and left (to Frankie Avalon: ‘You’re 43!’) that had me chuckling.
Just noticed that everyone hawking Luckies “Protects Their Voice With Luckies!”. I imagine it’s the same way that Julie Kavner protects her voice. Only, she probably uses Smooth Smoking Laramies!
I dearly wish that the “Mache’ing With Bits of Newspapers” has been entitled Mache’ing With Bits ‘O Newspapers”. So much more satisfying.
The “Staining Glass” fad of the Seventies, rolled into the Home Pottery fad, which evolved into the Crochet fad, and ended with “Polishing Rocks” fad. That is, I thought it had been the end of the line, but that queer amalgam of dreck was reborn in the Nineties as the Scrap Booking Fad. Rust never sleeps.
A mess? In a good way. Even though BBB didn’t have any Brian Wilson songs (those were in “Muscle Beach Party”), the music in this one makes it my favorite. Donna Loren has returned to performing and has a new CD out in which she gives “It Only Hurts When I Cry” the ballad treatment it has long deserved. Too bad the widescreen print TCM runs is still missing Annette’s great uptempo “I’ll Never Change Him” (it’s on the old fullscreen VHS version).
And anyone else notice that when Jody McCrea (“Bonehead”) is dressed in a suit in BBB, he looks eerily like Ted Kennedy?
The warden giving Tierney the electric chair preview is Gene Roth, who the same year appeared in the serial “Captain Video, Master of the Stratosphere” as a pudgy megalomaniac planetary ruler named, believe it or not, Vultura (not to be confused with the sultry babe megalomanianette of the same name in the earlier cliffhanger “Perils of Nyoka”). Roth later helmed at least one “Perry Mason” trial, though the imdb omits this factoid, and later became one of the select number of Hollywood personages to meet an untimely end by stepping off a curb at the wrong moment.
Oh – almost forgot my favorite line from BBB; Paul Lynde responding to Harvey Lembeck’s singing aspirations:
“Oh perfect. You’ll hear from us. NEXT!”
And another thing: Staunch, granite-jawed, Lucky-smoking Jack Holt was so darned granite-jawed that his profile was the inspiration for Dick Tracy’s. Also father of Tim Holt, one of those guys who met up with those other guys who didn’t have no badges down there in Mexico somewhere.
Slightly off topic, but since this happened yesterday/today, do any of the Font Experts here have any comments on this:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/07/09/comic.sans.cavs.james/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn
Tierney was very good in Tough Guys Don’t Dance, which Norman Mailer adapted from his novel. It’s a weird, dark comedy, but very good if confronted with the right attitude. Highly quotable, too.
By the way, Bernadette Peters will be taking over Catherine Zeta Jones’ part (Desiree) in “A Little Night Music” on Broadway starting July 13. And the great Elaine Stritch will be assuming Angela Lansbury’s part (Mme. Armfeldt). Both are Sondheim veterans. I saw Ms. Peters as the Witch in “Into the Woods” back in 1987 and still remember it well (she also starred in “Sunday in the Park With George”). Stritch, of course, originated “The Ladies Who Lunch” in “Company” way back in 1970.
@Kurt: I saw Ms. Peters about 3 days into her run as the witch in ITW. She was terrific, though I could have seen other actresses in that role. As to Ms. Stritch, I think it’s time to say good night.
@Lars Walker: “Look at the looks on the kids’ faces. The kids in the British version are sharing the teacher’s sexual fantasies.”
Hardly. It’s the same look I’ve see on countless 10-12 year-olds in community theatre. They don’t even know what a sexual fantasy is, let alone being able to mock it.
Sorry, folks. I’ve watched it again, and come to the same conclusion: BBC = Low budget.
_@_v-~ – i prefer morleys…
This is, admittedly, not Bernadette’s best work, but come on! She was preternaturally good in The Jerk and a hundred other things. She’s absolutely adorable. And she seems like a nice lady to boot. I love her! Compare her to today’s heartthrob, Angelina Jolie. Fish lips. Flat face. Zero talent. Bitchy, hateful persona. Slut.
No comparison.
You go, Bernadette!
Bernadette Peters.
Annie
Easy Street
Lock thread.
Browniejr and any other font-natics out there.
After 30-some years of working with typefaces, I actually took a class called “Design & Typography” and yes, even after three decades of so-called practical experience, there were still plenty of things for me to learn.
The instructors stressed that for better or rose, typefaces convey psychological or emotional messages and that the challenge for the designer is to choose appropriate typefaces for whatever message that is being sent, particularly with advertising/display/logos and more subtly with text.
A good text typeface is like a good radio voice — interesting and appealing without being so noticeable that it drowns the information. It can be surprisingly difficult to choose a text typeface, which is why a lot of people play safe and choose Times Roman. Nothing wrong with that — Times Roman and Helvetica are the vanilla and chocolate of the typeface world. (in my humble though biased opinion)
It’s always fun (or maybe just puzzling or really boring) for the un-font-enlightened to listen to font mavens get together.
Example: my friend Harry and myself.
Harry: You wouldn’t believe what I had to read yesterday, for the magazine…
mjb: yeah?
Harry: An entire article typed in Bookman…
mjb: (interrupting) Hey, nothing wrong with Bookman. Nice x-height, very readable… makes a really elegant headline in lightface, all lower case, say about 60 points…
Harry: (irritated) Wait for it! An entire article typed in Bookman SWASH!!!!!!!
mjb: (groans in sympathy) SWASH??? an entire ARTICLE? Dear GOD! What were they THINKING! How did you not go blind???
Scott and Bill (who are listening, bemused) So what’s the big deal?
mjb: You guys both cook, right? Typing an entire article in a swash typeface like dumping a pound of oregano into a recipe that only requires a pinch. Get it?
Scott and Bill (cautiously) uh, yeah… sure, we get it… (thinking “get the net” no doubt.)
I meant “better or worse” though I kind of like “better or rose.”
Oh well, it’s six of two and twice of the other…
MJB: After reading your comment I just had to go and look up Bookman Swash and I completely agree. It’s got 1970′s written all over it.
I love the Lucky Strike adverts’ insistence that each of the stars received NOT ONE CENT for their endorsement. I bet none of them had to buy cigarettes for a long time, though.
MJB: I too have just Googled Bookman Swash. Thanks for inadvertently tipping me off – I’ve wondered for years what that font was called.
@browniejr: he’s cute when he’s typing mad.
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