I Didn't Write That!
31 October 2019
From the Archives: Count Dracula (BBC, 1977)
And now the yearly repost of a treat for Halloween.
My favorite version of Dracula, by Philip Saville and Gerald Savory, which I first saw when I was 8 (as mentioned here), starring Louis Jourdan.
Any adaptation of Dracula will always be one removed from the original, because the original is an epistolary(told through journal entries, letters, and that kind of thing). So when Dracula is adapted, one is forced to interpret, and usually those are quite different than the novel. Sometimes this ends up good, like with both versions of Nosferatu. Other times it's mangled, like most of the 1931 version or Coppola's pretty debacle. The most usual thing is for Lucy and Mina to either be switched or merged, and Quincy Morris and Arthur Holmwood are either eliminated or, as in this version, merged.
This one manages to be closer to Stoker than any other version. And is quite scary. Also kind of hot. This film has been somewhat of an obsession for me since I was a kid. You may disagree, but for me, this is the best non-Nosferatu version of Dracula.
It's BBC 1970s, which means it's film outside, video inside. But like many, I think horror works better when it looks cheaper, and in any event they do a fantastic job with the means they have. I certainly prefer it to the American-clean way a lot of BBC looks now. And I actually like the cheesy video effects too. Also excellent are Frank Finlay as Van Helsing, Judi Bowker as Mina, Jack Shepherd as the best Renfield since Dwight Frye--and maybe better--and my first movie crush, the incredibly sexy Susan Penhaligon as Lucy Westenra. To this day I have a thing for chokers or ribbons about the neck thanks to her in this, which is why I draw them so often on women. Quincy is played with the worst American accent you've ever heard, but try to look past that. (as well as the Portuguese subtitles, unless you speak it, in which case, bonus!)
Here's the score, which makes heavy use of not a theremin, but a different early electronic instrument called the Ondes Martenot, which Radiohead fans might recall as an instrument Jonny Greenwood is very fond of. You start hearing it about 0:45 in--it's a bit like a theremin in that it sounds like it's singing, but in a much warmer way. After is the full film.
Happy Halloween!
Bonus: Sue Penhaligon, early 70s.
___________________
And now the yearly repost of a treat for Halloween.
My favorite version of Dracula, by Philip Saville and Gerald Savory, which I first saw when I was 8 (as mentioned here), starring Louis Jourdan.
This one manages to be closer to Stoker than any other version. And is quite scary. Also kind of hot. This film has been somewhat of an obsession for me since I was a kid. You may disagree, but for me, this is the best non-Nosferatu version of Dracula.
It's BBC 1970s, which means it's film outside, video inside. But like many, I think horror works better when it looks cheaper, and in any event they do a fantastic job with the means they have. I certainly prefer it to the American-clean way a lot of BBC looks now. And I actually like the cheesy video effects too. Also excellent are Frank Finlay as Van Helsing, Judi Bowker as Mina, Jack Shepherd as the best Renfield since Dwight Frye--and maybe better--and my first movie crush, the incredibly sexy Susan Penhaligon as Lucy Westenra. To this day I have a thing for chokers or ribbons about the neck thanks to her in this, which is why I draw them so often on women. Quincy is played with the worst American accent you've ever heard, but try to look past that. (as well as the Portuguese subtitles, unless you speak it, in which case, bonus!)Here's the score, which makes heavy use of not a theremin, but a different early electronic instrument called the Ondes Martenot, which Radiohead fans might recall as an instrument Jonny Greenwood is very fond of. You start hearing it about 0:45 in--it's a bit like a theremin in that it sounds like it's singing, but in a much warmer way. After is the full film.
Happy Halloween!
Bonus: Sue Penhaligon, early 70s.
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Labels: film, halloween, horror, my influences, TV, UK
¶ October 31, 2019 0 Comments
24 October 2019
Trump's Buddy
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Trump is far more like Stalin than like Hitler. In his conviction only he should make any decisions(and thus government only does what he's interested in, which is very little that has to do with American interests); he rewrites facts that don't suit him and ejects anyone who knows more than him from the government.
And Stalin thought Hitler was his pal.
Till the invasion of Russia, Stalin was happy to deal with Hitler and rather admired him, as they shared many of the same goals and prejudices. So it was both nations that invaded and shredded Poland. Stalin was thrilled because of all the additional land and resources and the chance to purge party members he disliked and slaughter Polish army officers (see: Katyn)
And when Hitler did the obvious thing that he'd done many times before to others, which was fuck him over, Stalin was genuinely shocked, and paralyzed with depression for a week, realizing he'd purged all his best generals.
And this is just how Russia is setting up Trump.
Labels: bad ideas, bastards, history, Russia, trump
¶ October 24, 2019 0 Comments
04 October 2019
Oh No, Martin Scorsese Said Something Bad About Movies that Gross Billions
All of you jumping down Scorsese's throat for speaking the truth: where are you when actual innovative films that need your support go under? Why do films that gross billions need you to defend them?
People who want Marvel movies to be called real movies:
1. Don't ever tell me to "turn off my mind, it's just fun" when I point out their flaws. If it's a real film it can handle criticism like any real film.
2. Does it occur to you that largely they do no more than IMITATE real movies? WINTER SOLDIER knocks off from THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR and was praised for that. The Ant-Man films cribbed from Ocean's 11 and again, praised. They're fun but they are faux and would have not have much most would go see without their grafting from other non-superhero films. That's how they get the masses to accept it.
3. You may have forgotten, because of Marvel's imitation and replacement strategy, what real movies are like.
4. They're all basically the same plot arc. RAGNAROK isn't and that's why it sticks out--it defies all that. And that's why it's to be undone.
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¶ October 04, 2019 0 Comments
All of you jumping down Scorsese's throat for speaking the truth: where are you when actual innovative films that need your support go under? Why do films that gross billions need you to defend them?
People who want Marvel movies to be called real movies:
1. Don't ever tell me to "turn off my mind, it's just fun" when I point out their flaws. If it's a real film it can handle criticism like any real film.
2. Does it occur to you that largely they do no more than IMITATE real movies? WINTER SOLDIER knocks off from THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR and was praised for that. The Ant-Man films cribbed from Ocean's 11 and again, praised. They're fun but they are faux and would have not have much most would go see without their grafting from other non-superhero films. That's how they get the masses to accept it.
3. You may have forgotten, because of Marvel's imitation and replacement strategy, what real movies are like.
4. They're all basically the same plot arc. RAGNAROK isn't and that's why it sticks out--it defies all that. And that's why it's to be undone.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/57488687/ThorRagnarok5994db97c9e39.0.jpg) |
| Thor and Hulk Resolving Eternal Issues of Human Relationships |
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¶ October 04, 2019 0 Comments
03 October 2019
Trump Will Take Pence With Him
When the criminal part is operant, you could say Trump has a kind of high cunning. Like any good mobster, he knew to get Mikey to dip his hands in the blood too.
Really clever of Trump to taint the GOP's backup Normal Republican this way. He ensured Pence was part of the same plot, so they don't dare help impeach unless they're willing to lose the whole office.
To Nancy Pelosi. Who's in the line of succession after Pence.
Seriously, if they'd had any sense they'd have at least made sure Pence was involved in no Trump decisions at all. Otherwise, what was the point of him?
I'm guessing that once they got one more Supreme Court Justice, and the country softened for the GOP by all of Trump's draconian policies, they'd have cut him loose to have Pence with a country made easy for him by the sacrificial Trump.
I think that was the hope.
And then they'd say Trump was never a real Republican at all. They managed to muddle the memory of Dubya fairly well, why not him?
But we saw them, how they are when they fear no loss of power for making America suffer; how much they enjoy the permission Trump gives them, and how little they ever meant their crowd-controlling talk of their perverse 50s view of Christian morality they themselves would never follow. And we will not forget.
When the criminal part is operant, you could say Trump has a kind of high cunning. Like any good mobster, he knew to get Mikey to dip his hands in the blood too.
Really clever of Trump to taint the GOP's backup Normal Republican this way. He ensured Pence was part of the same plot, so they don't dare help impeach unless they're willing to lose the whole office.
To Nancy Pelosi. Who's in the line of succession after Pence.
Seriously, if they'd had any sense they'd have at least made sure Pence was involved in no Trump decisions at all. Otherwise, what was the point of him?
I'm guessing that once they got one more Supreme Court Justice, and the country softened for the GOP by all of Trump's draconian policies, they'd have cut him loose to have Pence with a country made easy for him by the sacrificial Trump.
I think that was the hope.
And then they'd say Trump was never a real Republican at all. They managed to muddle the memory of Dubya fairly well, why not him?
But we saw them, how they are when they fear no loss of power for making America suffer; how much they enjoy the permission Trump gives them, and how little they ever meant their crowd-controlling talk of their perverse 50s view of Christian morality they themselves would never follow. And we will not forget.
Labels: disaster, election 2020, right wing, trump
¶ October 03, 2019 0 Comments
