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Archive for the ‘Arts’ Category

How Modern Russian Cinema Evolved From Orson Welles

Posted in Arts, tagged , , , , , , , on February 6, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Just saw Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil last month.  This impressive opening scene is the best part of the movie.  A lot of technical wizardry must have gone into making this long tracking shot work–not to mention tons of rehearsal. Even more impressive, though, is the 2002 film Russian Ark, which I also saw last [...]

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Another February Song

Posted in Arts, tagged , , on February 4, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

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Reviews of Movies I Haven’t Seen: Chronicle

Posted in Arts, tagged , , on February 4, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Actually, every review I’ve read so far says this movie is pretty good.  Still, the plot sounds even more derivative than usual.  Angry, sullen teen starts developing telekinetic powers, and then uses them to exact revenge on the popular kids who tormented him?  Isn’t this basically the plot of Carrie, Stephen King’s debut novel from [...]

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Heavenly Choir Gets Etta James “At Last”

Posted in Arts, tagged , , on January 23, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Divine R&B diva Etta James died a few days ago.  Especially for anyone whose musical experience begins with Bieber and ends with Swift, enjoy this beautiful view of what more music is capable of.

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Recommended Listening: Bill Miller

Posted in Arts, tagged , , , , on January 9, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

I first came across Bill Miller’s music as a teenager when I saw Tori Amos in concert, touring for her second album.  I remember liking the show well enough, but I remember being blown away by the opening act, a Native American folk rocker named Bill Miller.  I’d never heard anything like him, and I [...]

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2011: My Year In Movies

Posted in Arts, tagged , , , on December 28, 2011 | 1 Comment »

I watched a lot of movies in 2011.  This was the first year that I kept track, and I was surprised just how many there were.  Of course, a lot of these were for my project of seeing all of the non R-rated movies on AFI’s top 100 American films list.  I’ll give more details and [...]

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Classic Jazz for a Rainy Monday

Posted in Arts, tagged , , , on December 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

There used to be an older black man in my congregation at church, and someone told me that he was a huge jazz fan, and had heard a lot of the classic stuff when it had first come out.  So I asked him one day what he recommended.  He told me about “Yardbird Suite,” as done [...]

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The Kingston Trio Performs “M.T.A.”

Posted in Arts, tagged , , , on November 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

I’m very grateful to have been raised by parents who clued me in to neat old stuff like this.

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The Classic Mystery! Intro

Posted in Arts, tagged , , , on November 14, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Edward Gorey animates murder mystery cliches in these famous introductory scenes from the long-running PBS series, Mystery!  Alas, the truncated version they use now is little more than a pale shadow of this lively paragon of nostalgia.  

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Coldplay and Course of Empire

Posted in Arts, tagged , , , , , on November 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

I really like this.  

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Words and Music

Posted in Arts, Language and Literature, tagged , , , , , on October 20, 2011 | 1 Comment »

A fascinating and wonderful article ran in the Guardian last week.  The author eloquently ruminates over the parallel evolution of literature and music in the 19th century, and laments a perceived divergence since the 20th.  His descriptions of the intertwined nature of the two media are divine: To read Molly Bloom’s great gush of resigned affirmation [...]

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Please Help My School Get $$ From Glee

Posted in Arts, Random, tagged , , on October 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

The hit TV show Glee is giving away $1,000,000 to needy school music programs around the country.  As of today, only one high school in Las Vegas is competing–mine.  Anyone can go to this web site and vote for our school.  You can even keep voting every new day–so it’s a lot like a real [...]

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The Rabbit of Seville

Posted in Arts, tagged , , , , , , on October 10, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

A follow-up to a post a couple of weeks ago, about a Bugs Bunny version of Wagnerian opera.  Here, we see his take on Rossini: Incidentally, ever notice that these old Warner Bros. cartoons all had musical names?  Looney Tunes Merrie Melodies Silly Symphonies

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Fiddler on the Roof Birthday Pending

Posted in Arts, tagged , , on October 3, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

One month from today–November 3–will mark the 40th anniversary of the film version of Fiddler on the Roof.  L’Chaim! 

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Kill the Wabbit!

Posted in Arts, tagged , , , , , , on September 18, 2011 | 1 Comment »

One of my earliest exposures to classical music was the Bugs Bunny cartoon “What’s Opera, Doc?”  Does this get played anywhere, anymore?  Do kids today get to see this?  Shoot, two generations of kids grew up knowing the theme from Wagner’s ”Ride of the Valkyries” because we all heard Elmer Fudd singing it here as “Kill [...]

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