Thursday, March 4, 2010

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Lačni Franz - Praslovan

Rock band from Slovenia.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Big Spender

Dance sequence from Sweet Charity. Choreographer Bob Fosse.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Goldfrapp - Deer Stop



And I long to go
Love started. Here
Shoot your star
Be a light
Is that

Don't you call
Deer stop bottle in a shell
Shoot a thousand stars over me
Love to come home
You've arrested a knight

Say my name,
Whisper it
Don't ever turn
I'm deliciously wired
I'm falling in a cloud
Shoot a thousand stars over
Say my name
Whisper it

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Friday, October 30, 2009

Alejandro Escovedo


Alejandro Escovedo w/ David Pulkingham and Susan Voelz The Ark June, 2009

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Angel flying too close to the ground



If you had not have fallen
Then I would not have found you
Angel flying too close to the ground
And I patched up your broken wing
And hung around a while
Tried to keep your spirits up
And your fever down
I knew someday that you would fly away
For love's the greatest healer to be found
So leave me if you need to
I will still remember
Angel flying too close to the ground
Fly on, fly on past the speed of sound
I'd rather see you up
Than see you down
Leave me if you need to
I will still remember
Angel flying too close to the ground

The Ipcress File



Michael Caine made his first appearance as novelist Len Deighton's bespectacled British-spy Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File. Palmer has no real love of espionage, but he doesn't really know any other life. With studied insolence, he takes on the case of locating missing doctor Radcliffe (Aubrey Richards), who has in his possession a valuable file that would prove injurious to the Free World should it fall in the wrong hands. The government also fears that Radcliffe will be brainwashed by the enemy, as has happened to two previous British scientists. While Palmer is off doing everyone else's dirty work, his superior, Nigel Green, is making a deal with duplicitous information "broker" Frank Gatliff to win Radcliffe's release. The price for this would seem to be Palmer, who is captured by the enemy and subjected to a grueling brainwashing session. Palmer escapes, whereupon he confronts a traitor in his midst in the climactic exchange of gunfire. Advertised as "The Thinking Man's Goldfinger, The Ipcress File offered a far more realistic view of the morally ambivalent world of espionage than did the like-vintage James Bond films. Music by John Berry set the standard for spy movies.

The Ipcress File(1965), Funeral in Berlin (1966) and Billion Dollar Brain (1967). Decades later, Michael Caine returned his Harry Palmer character in Harry Alan Towers' Bullet to Beijing (1995) and Midnight in St. Petersburg (1996).

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Elmer's Tune

Glenn Miller 's number one hit "Elmer's Tune" in 1941 was written by a mortician. Young Elmer Albrecht worked next door to Chicago's Aragon Ballroom and received permission to use one of their pianos on his lunch hours. Bandleader Dick Jurgens liked one of the melodies he heard Albrecht play and arranged it for his orchestra. Lyricist Sammy Gallop added words. The rest is history.

Here are the lyrics:

Why are the stars always winkin,' And blinkin' above?
What makes a fella' start thinkin', Of fallin' in love?
It's not the season, The reason, It's plain as the moon,
It's just Elmer's tune.

What makes a lady of eighty, Go out on the loose?
Why does a gander meander,In search of a goose?
What puts the kick, In a chicken, The magic in June?
It's just Elmer's tune.

Listen! Listen! There's a lot you're liable to be missin'.
Sing it! Swing it Any ol' way And any ol' time.
The hurdy-gurdies, The birdies, The cop on the beat,
The candy maker, The baker, The man on the street,
The city charmer, The farmer, The Man in the Moon,
All sing Elmer's tune.

The hurdy-gurdies, The birdies, The cop on the beat,
The Banker And the Man on the street
The city charmer, The farmer, The Man in the Moon,
All sing Elmer's tune.
They all sing Elmer's tune,
They all sing Elmer's tune

My favorite version is by Peggy Lee

Monday, October 12, 2009

Rashomon



Rashomon (羅生門, Rashōmon?) is a 1950 Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. It stars Toshirō Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori and Minoru Chiaki. The film is based on two stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa — ("Rashomon" provides the setting, while "In a Grove" provides the characters and plot).
Rashomon can be said to have introduced Kurosawa and Japanese cinema to Western audiences, and is considered one of his masterpieces. The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and also received an Academy Honorary Award at the 24th Academy Awards.

This is my favorite of all times. I can watch it over and over.