tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50824054191217213872024-03-17T07:52:35.720+13:00Slightly IntrepidModestly adventurous, while also endeavouring to look both ways when crossing the road.Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.comBlogger1619125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-889873366670850892024-03-14T16:57:00.002+13:002024-03-14T16:57:51.557+13:00Now he's out in space, fixing all the problems<u>Thursday music corner</u>: Welsh-born musician and songwriter <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Wallinger">Karl Wallinger</a>, who died at his home in the East Sussex city of Hastings on Sunday aged 66, was the founder and driving force behind the group <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Party">World Party</a>. After joining Mike Scott's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Waterboys">Waterboys</a> as a keyboardist for the band's second and third albums, Wallinger went solo as World Party in 1986, adding other members as required. <div><br /></div><div>World Party released five studio albums from 1987 to 2000, three of which reached the UK top 40 albums chart; the most successful was <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang!_(World_Party_album)">Bang!</a></i>, which reached number 2 in the UK album charts in 1993; it also went top 10 in Norway. World Party achieved four UK top 40 singles, and the 1987 single Ship of Fools reached number four in the Australian pop charts. She's The One, an album track from World Party's 1997 album <i>Egyptology</i>, was later a UK chart-topping single for Robbie Williams in 1999. Wallinger benefited from the royalties; according to the <i><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/12/arts/music/karl-wallinger-dead.html">New York Times</a></i>: <div><span face="nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif" style="background-color: white; color: #363636; font-size: 20px;"><br /></span></div><div><span face="nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif" style="background-color: white; color: #363636; font-size: 20px;"></span><blockquote><span face="nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif" style="background-color: white; color: #363636; font-size: 20px;">“So we didn’t have to sell the kids to chemical experiments or anything,” he told The Chicago Sun-Times in 2012. “I think I’m a bit of a lucky person.”</span> </blockquote><div><br /></div><div>Is It Like Today? was the first single from World Party's third album, <i>Bang!</i> It reached number 19 in the UK charts, and number 24 in Canada. It also reached number five on the US alternative charts.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>World Party - Is It Like Today?</b> (1993) <i> </i> </div></div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="275" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0tyLGi2LtlU?si=OyxehZPx1qX3attM" title="YouTube video player" width="475"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><u>See also</u>:</div><div><b>Music</b>: The Waterboys - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGddwZe6e9w">Don't Bang The Drum</a> (1985, Scott/Wallinger co-write)</div><div><b>Music</b>: World Party - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udCaa-Ju3dk">Put The Message In The Box</a> (1990)</div><div><b>Music</b>: World Party - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rXQ5Ye-ZwI">She's The One</a> (live, 1997)</div></div>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-55282327109703325162024-03-07T20:52:00.000+13:002024-03-07T20:52:38.829+13:00Lines To Be Read At the Casting of Scott FitzGerald's balls into the Sea<div>Cuba is a hell of an interesting place now and has been for last five years. Probably before too you say. But only know what I've seen. Anyway am writing a story about this next revolution. Come on down any time and I'll take you over there in the boat and you'll get a good story out of it anyway. If you really feel blue enough, get yourself heavily insured and I'll see you can get killed [...] I'll write you a fine obituary that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Cowley">Malcolm Cowley</a> will cut the best part out of for the new republic and we can take your liver out and give it to the Princeton Museum, your heart to the Plaza Hotel, one lung lung to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_Perkins">Max Perkins</a> and the other to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Horace_Lorimer">George Horace Lorimer</a>. If we can still find your balls I will take them via the Ile de France to Paris and down to Antibes and have them cast into the sea off Eden Roc and we will get Mac Leish to write a Mystic Poem to be read at that Catholic School (Newman?) you went to. Would you like me to write the mystic poem now. Let's see. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Lines To Be Read At the Casting of Scott FitzGerald's balls into the Sea from Eden Roc (Antibes Alpes Maritimes)</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div><i>Whence from these gray Heights unjockstrapped wholly stewed he</i></div><div><i>Flung</i></div><div><i>Himself?</i></div><div><i>No.</i></div><div><i>Some waiter?</i></div><div><i>Yes.</i></div><div><i>Push tenderly oh green shoots of grass</i></div><div><i>Tickle not our Fitz's nostrils</i></div><div><i>Pass</i></div><div><i>The gray moving unbenfinneyed sea deaths deeper than</i></div><div><i>our debt to Eliot</i></div><div><i>Fling flang them flung his own his two finally his one</i></div><div><i>Spherical, colloid, interstitial,</i></div><div><i>uprising lost to sight</i></div><div><i>in fright</i></div><div><i>natural</i></div><div><i>not artificial</i></div><div><i>no ripple make as sinking sanking sonking sunk</i></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Aw hell you'll have to get Mac Leish to write the mystic poem. I'll just give a few personal reminiscences of his Paris Period. Get that insurance now, pal. If they won't give you health or life insurance get accident insurance.</div><div><br /></div><div>So long Scott --</div><div><br /></div><div>Let me hear from you. Merry Christmas! Pauline sends her love.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yours always affectionately </div><div>Ernest</div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>- Ernest Hemingway, letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald, 21 December 1935, quoted in Carlos Baker (ed.), <i>Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters 1917-1961</i>, London, 1981, p.428-9.</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><u>See also</u>:</div><div><b>Books</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2023/02/a-new-zealander-makes-powerful-enemies.html">A NZer makes powerful enemies at the BBC</a>, 28 February 2023</div><div><b>Books</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-importance-of-movies-to-good-people.html">The importance of movies to Gopher Prairie</a>, 6 October 2022</div><div><b>Books</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-paris-correspondent-starts-his-day.html">The Paris correspondent starts his day</a>, 30 April 2016</div>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-68601749203318327102024-03-07T16:45:00.000+13:002024-03-07T16:45:04.810+13:00Jim Dandy in a submarine, got a message from a mermaid queen<u>Thursday music corner</u>: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaVern_Baker">LaVern Baker</a> (b. Chicago, 1929, d. Queens, 1997) was a powerfully-voice R&B performer in the 1950s and 1960s who enjoyed considerable chart success. After signing with Atlantic Records as a solo artist in 1953, Baker enjoyed 20 top 40 R&B chart singles in the US from 1955 to 1966. Seven of these were also top 40 hits on the mainstream US pop charts. From 1969 until 1991 she lived in the Philippines as entertainment director at the Subic Bay US Marine Corps Staff club for non-commissioned officers.<div><br /></div><div>Written by Lincoln Chase, Jim Dandy was recorded by Baker in December 1955 and released the following year. It was her only R&B chart number one, with 1955's Play It Fair and 1958's Cry A Tear reaching number two. It also cemented a move away from the kid-friendly titles of her earlier singles like 1955's Tweedlee Dee and Bop-Ting-a-Ling. Jim Dandy was the opening track of her second album, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaVern_Baker_(album)">LaVern Baker</a> </i>(1957), and it also appeared on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Flamingos#Music">soundtrack </a>to John Waters' 1972 notorious cult classic, <i>Pink Flamingos</i>. <i>Rolling Stone</i>, in its top 500 songs list, rated Jim Dandy the 352nd greatest song of all time. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>LaVern Baker - Jim Dandy </b>(1956)</div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="275" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YwhoCb6VkYg?si=FnjGgHwg5Uz6alHB" title="YouTube video player" width="475"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><u>See also</u>:</div><div><b>Music</b>: LaVern Baker & Jimmy Ricks - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwBInEhspEA">You're The Boss</a> (1961)</div><div><b>Music</b>: LaVern Baker - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-djy4eyMIk">See See Rider</a> (1962)</div><div><b>Music</b>: Ann-Margret - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmTP1VB6Bog">Jim Dandy</a> (1962)</div>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-86267211777860135542024-03-06T21:37:00.001+13:002024-03-06T21:37:38.570+13:00Crusader Kings 2: Some medieval doggerel<b>Some medieval doggerel, or, <br />The Ballad of the Concubine Addiena, to whit:<br />G*d d*mn the Patriarchy<br /></b><i>A tale from 9th-century Ireland, from Crusader Kings 2<br /></i><br />Tis a tale of the wanton in the far isle of Eire<br />A young girl had been raised who had the longest black hair<br />In the palace she lived, with the Queen and the King<br />But the name of her sire, no courtier could sing<br /><br />A bastard was she, yet cared for and fed<br />With the grace of the Queen, though not in her bed<br />The Queen lent a wet-nurse and paid for another <br />(But surely kept quiet about being the mother)<br /><br />The girl's name was Addiena, uncommon to most<br />And as she grew she was more often to boast<br />Of her silken black hair that she wove forth in tresses<br />And the beauty of the linens in her fine English dresses<br /><br />Now later, much later, when quite fully grown <br />Addiena and the Queen disagreed 'bout the throne<br />For the Queen's husband had become quite neglected<br />And Addiena, the rogue, had become quite disaffected<br /><br />So Add, in her wisdom, seduced the poor King<br />(King Coscrach, the dotard, suspected not a thing)<br />And bore him a child, with no expressed shame<br />Arnemetia she called it, her own mother's name <br /><br />A fitting tribute, she reckoned, to her bastard existence<br />A new life on Earth and a social resistance<br />The King, he ashamed, did wed off the maid<br />And the Queen, she angered, his doom she emprayed <br /><br />So be this a lesson for every Queen to know best<br />If ye bring forth a babe from beyond royal nest<br />Set a household ban on all Concubina <br />And don't let your husband meet the fair Addiena<div><br /></div><div><u>See also</u>:</div><div><b>Games</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2018/10/crusader-kings-2-stayin-alive.html">Crusader Kings 2 - Stayin' alive</a>, 25 October 2018 </div><div><b>Games</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2013/05/crusader-kings-2-house-of-dunkeld.html">Crusader Kings 2 - House of Dunkeld</a>, 5 May 2013</div><div><b>Games</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2012/07/new-kings-of-ireland.html">Crusader Kings 2 - The new kings of Ireland</a>, 7 July 2012</div>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-15139349429895648982024-03-05T16:14:00.002+13:002024-03-05T16:14:51.330+13:00Will Rogers in New ZealandLegendary American performer and aphorist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Rogers">Will Rogers</a> (1879-1935) became famous through the Ziegfeld Follies and went on to become an enormously popular movie star and opinion columnist, and one of Hollywood's highest paid actors. In his youth he toured the world several times showing off his spectacular cowboy rope skills, and his travels even took him through New Zealand as part of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirth%27s_Circus">Wirth Brother's Circus</a> tour in 1904. Known as the Cherokee Kid, Rogers got the following write-up in the Auckland Star:<br /><br /><blockquote>The Cherokee Kid is a gentleman with a large American accent and a splendid skill with lassoos [sic.]. He demonstrated what could be done with the whirling loop by bringing up a horse and its rider from [an] impossible position, once throwing together two lasoos [sic.] encircling man and horse separately. He also showed the spectators how to throw half-hitches on to objects at a distance, and did other clever work with the ropes. It was a very interesting performance.<div><b>- <i><a href="https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM19040308.2.29">Auckland Star</a></i>, 20 January 1904</b></div></blockquote><div><b></b></div>The circus tour must have lasted at least six weeks in the summer of 1903/04 because Rogers was still receiving press attention in March, like these reports from Wellington:<br /><br /><blockquote>A novel feature was the lasso work of the Cherokee Kid, a cowboy in Mexican circus-costume, who whirls his swift rope round his head and lassos horse and rider in the twinkling of an eye. This rope work is pretty to watch, and altogether a desirable addition to the programme.<div><b>- <i><a href="https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19040308.2.24">Evening Post</a></i>, 8 March 1904</b></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote><div>The Cherokee Kid is a slim chap, who toddles into the ring with a couple of lassoes, and does anything in the roping line with them, talking all the time. He gets near, fore, or off fore-leg of a galloping horse, or loops the rider — or both — with a lassoo [sic.] thrown with either hand. Also, he afterwards throws a half-hitch over each of a dismounted man's limbs. He is the most expert rope-thrower seen here to date. Moreover, his rough riding, on a grey mustang wearing a Mexican saddle, is very fine.</div><div><b>- <i><a href="https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZFL19040312.2.16">Free Lance</a></i>, 12 March 1904</b></div></blockquote><div><br /><div>Rogers returned to the States later in 1904 to perform at the St Louis World Fair, which opened on 30 April 1904.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><u>See also</u>:</div><div><b>History</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-myth-reality-of-stagecoach-travel.html">Stagecoach travel in the Old West</a>, 19 March 2015</div><div><b>America</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2012/12/john-howard-on-americas-lax-firearms.html">America's lax firearms laws</a>, 16 December 2012</div><div><b>Music</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2023/08/hes-solid-gold-cat-but-really-mellow.html">He's a solid gold cat but a really mellow hip fat</a>, 17 August 2023</div>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-75306884389486827412024-02-28T21:21:00.000+13:002024-02-28T21:21:07.960+13:00The German Democratic Republic<p><b>The GDR, or The Very Shortest History of East Elbia </b></p><p>East Germany didn't become different because of the Russian occupation of 1945-1989; the Russians occupied the place because it had always been different.</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_the_Great">Otto the Great</a> invaded across the Elbe in 935 AD; the Slavs threw the Germans back out in 982 AD; the Germans tried again in 1127 and over the next two centuries they largely (but never completely) succeeded in supplanting the Slavs up to the river Oder. The Teutonic Knights went further until the Poles <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grunwald">smashed them in 1410</a>. Prussia was born under Polish suzerainty as an act of revolt again Rome in 1525, rose to fame in battle against Sweden, was made a great power by victories between the Elbe and the Oder, then saved from abolition by the Tsar in 1807. The fatal inability of the western Germans to unite allowed Prussia to conquer them after a single great <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_K%C3%B6niggr%C3%A4tz">battle on the Elbe in 1866</a>. Prussia smashed France in 1870; it thereafter dragooned the Germans into providing manpower and money for its bid(s) to settle the 1,000-year struggle with the Slavs. That struggle ended in 1945 with part of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Elbia">East Elbia</a> lost forever and what was left, between Elbe and Oder, a helpless colony of Russia.</p><p>With the creation of the GDR, this rump East Elbia formally became what it had always really been: the odd German-speaking man out in a Slavic Eastern Europe. Until the wall went up in 1961, the East Germans - above all, the young and educated - undertook a new <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostflucht">Ostflucht</a> </i>to West Germany at an average rate of about 200,000 year on year, about the same rate as in the <i>Ostflucht </i>from the 1850s onwards. If Russia's clients hadn't built and maintained a deadly barrier to stop the fugitives in the meantime, by 1989 there would have been hardly any Germans left beyond the Elbe.</p><p><b>- James Hawes, <i>The Shortest History of Germany</i>, Devo, 2017, p.199</b></p><u>See also</u>:<br /><b>History</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2022/03/charlemagnes-passion-for-education.html">Charlemagne's passion for education</a>, 29 March 2022<br /><b>Germany</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2012/06/new-zealand-posters-by-young-german.html">NZ posters by young German artists</a>, 30 June 2012<div><b>History</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2012/05/single-most-successful-german-ruler.html">The single most successful German ruler</a>, 19 May 2012 </div>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-31530169816471406212024-02-22T20:42:00.002+13:002024-02-22T20:42:35.492+13:00Forgotten memories of laughter and war<u>Thursday music corner</u>: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliana_Hatfield">Juliana Hatfield</a> (b. Maine, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter who first came to prominence in the late 1980s in Boston band <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake_Babies">Blake Babies</a>. In the early 1990s she was a member of Evan Dando's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lemonheads">Lemonheads</a>, appearing on their successful albums <i>It's A Shame About Ray </i>(1992) and <i>Come On Feel The Lemonheads </i>(1993). <div><br /></div><div>After releasing her solo debut album <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_Babe">Hey Babe</a> </i>in 1992, her second album <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Become_What_You_Are">Become What You Are</a></i>, released the following year as the Juliana Hatfield Three, became a major indie crossover success, spawning the hit single My Sister, which topped the US Alternative chart. Since then she has released albums for a range of labels. In 2023 Hatfield released her twentieth solo album, <i>Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO</i>, a follow-up to similar covers albums she has recorded for Olivia Newton-John (2018) and The Police (2019).<div><br /></div><div>Sunshine is a breezy, 1960s-influenced pop song that appeared on Hatfield's sixth solo album <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Exile_Deo">In Exile Deo</a></i>, released in 2004. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Juliana Hatfield - Sunshine </b>(2004)</div><div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="275" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gEKlYsp6vJ0?si=xVKfuyRkha4VLcB3" title="YouTube video player" width="475"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><u>See also</u>:</div><div><b>Music</b>: Blake Babies - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxkYf5NpNyI">Temptation Eyes</a> (1991)</div><div><b>Music</b>: Juliana Hatfield Three - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6BmNHAaaAY">This Is The Sound</a> (1993)</div><div><b>Music</b>: Juliana Hatfield - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMx8FVUgxIM">Universal Heart-Beat</a> (1995)</div><div><br /></div></div>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-86081290150266228222024-02-16T21:30:00.005+13:002024-02-16T21:30:33.115+13:00Agapanthus<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeuV1km1EUpISKKqnWyv_IzGNfRnDcBEek8rUODnK_E7ND6aRdnL7Zb9Mg3c7wf-0MIeiqpcBQkdPovVPKciNJ9nPmZ6wIBuz2Vhl9lLwowD-OZzavDCeIhRgl_XLeFV3xQpaf5UqGb_Bz4Y7ktfjEc6_gMdYup9uc5L-jWUo9HmZlohWeQrpgpWhDDeCq/s4416/DSCF1158.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4416" data-original-width="2944" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeuV1km1EUpISKKqnWyv_IzGNfRnDcBEek8rUODnK_E7ND6aRdnL7Zb9Mg3c7wf-0MIeiqpcBQkdPovVPKciNJ9nPmZ6wIBuz2Vhl9lLwowD-OZzavDCeIhRgl_XLeFV3xQpaf5UqGb_Bz4Y7ktfjEc6_gMdYup9uc5L-jWUo9HmZlohWeQrpgpWhDDeCq/w426-h640/DSCF1158.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-25271772364320730672024-02-16T21:28:00.002+13:002024-02-16T21:28:40.052+13:00The North-South divide in England<p><b>The North-South Divide Gets Ideology</b></p><p>At the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1924_United_Kingdom_general_election">1924 election</a>, former Southern Liberal voters went Tory, and stayed there; former Northern Liberal voters went with Labour, and stayed there. This finally locked down the political North-South divide. The Liberal Party was English, with an ancestry going back beyond the Union of 1707. Although it had come to be identified with Outer Britain during the struggles of the 19th century, it never completely lost traction in the South - until now. The Labour Party was a very different animal. It was born of the United Kingdom, its first five leaders were Scotsmen, and for the first two decades of its existence it had zero impact south of the Trent except in the poor quarters of London's vast city-state.</p><p>The Conservatives were no longer facing off against a genuine rival English party. The opposition now was the Party of Outer Britain (Northern English + Celts) a.k.a. Labour. This hardened the age-old suspicion among Southerners that the North was somehow not properly English. Essentially the battle-lines were the same as in 1461, 1642 or 1848 (or, for that matter, as when Northern thegns and Welsh princelings had united against the Godwins of Wessex under Edward the Confessor).</p><p>The ancient struggle was now window-dressed with fashionable, 20th-century ideologies. Labour, the new incarnation of the Outer British Alliance, claimed its members were all somehow instinctively peace-loving, communitarian, and internationalist. This self-image remains central to many Scots, Welsh, and Northern English.</p><p></p><blockquote><p>Men live by their generosities, by their loyalties; not by their interests, and their self-regarding impulses... that is the aim of the Socialist inspiration that gives us power in our Labour Movement.</p><p><i>- <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsay_MacDonald">Ramsay MacDonald</a>, Labour leader, 1924</i></p><p></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>Meanwhile, the latest version of the Party of the South claimed to represent a Deep Ethnic England. This vision is still widespread among those who love Barbour coats, the Cotswolds and suchlike.</p><p></p><blockquote><p>The preservation of the individuality of the Englishman is essential to the preservation of the type of the race... To me, England is the country, and the country is England... The sounds of England, the tinkle of hammer on anvil in the country smithy, the corncrake on a dewy morning, the sound of the scythe against the whetstone...</p><p><i>- <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Baldwin">Stanley Baldwin</a>, Conservative leader, 1924</i></p></blockquote><p><i></i></p><p><b>- James Hawes, <i>The Shortest History of England</i>, London, 2020, p.204-206.</b></p><u>See also</u>:<br /><b>Books</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2023/02/a-new-zealander-makes-powerful-enemies.html">A NZer makes powerful enemies at the BBC</a>, 28 February 2023<br /><b>Books</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2022/12/it-seemed-now-that-only-miracle-could.html">It seemed now that only a miracle could save Chamberlain</a>, 20 December 2022<br /><b>Books</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-rotten-boroughs.html">The rotten boroughs</a>, 2 April 2017<br /><br />Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-57262987280624099622024-02-15T19:31:00.000+13:002024-02-15T19:31:11.751+13:00Maybe I'm weak, maybe I'm strong<p><u>Thursday music corner</u>: US singer-songwriter <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Nilsson">Harry Nilsson</a> (b. New York, 1941 - d. Los Angeles, 1994) was famed amongst music aficionados for the skill of his compositions and musical innovation, but struggled both with commercial success in the ruthless pop business, and with personal demons manifesting in the alcoholism that ultimately shortened his life. Famously, his two biggest hits, Everybody's Talkin' (1969) and Without You (1971) were covers of other artists' work rather than Nilsson originals. A friend of several Beatles, Nilsson was a prolific artist throughout the 1960s and '70s. Eight of his singles and three of his albums reached the US top 40.</p><p>Nilsson's start in the music business was greatly assisted by the Beatles' press representative, <a href="https://www.mojo4music.com/time-machine/1960s/mojo-time-machine-harry-nilsson-debuts/">Derek Taylor</a>:<br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: __Montserrat_1ec507, __Montserrat_Fallback_1ec507; font-size: 18px;"></span></p><blockquote>Taylor, who first became enamoured with Nilsson after hearing his song 1941 on a car radio, concluded, “Nilsson is the best contemporary soloist in the world. He is it. He is the something else The Beatles are. He is The One.” To prove his belief, he bought 25 copies of Nilsson’s RCA debut album and despatched them to his favourite industry people, including all four Beatles. At which point, the world sat up and slowly began to notice.</blockquote><p></p><p>Nevertheless (I'm In Love With You) is Nilsson's cover of Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby's 1931 song originally recorded by Jack Denny, which became widely recorded in the 1950s, with versions by the McGuire Sisters, the Mills Brothers, Paul Weston, Ray Anthony, Ralph Flanagan, Frankie Laine and Frank Sinatra. Nilsson's version appeared on his 1973 album <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Little_Touch_of_Schmilsson_in_the_Night">A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night</a></i>, an album of old standards covers that reached the top 20 in the UK and Australia, and reached number 46 in the US. Nilsson's version of Herman Hupfeld's As Time Goes By was released as the album's single, and performed modestly in the US, Canadian and Australian charts.</p><p><b>Harry Nilsson - Nevertheless (I’m In Love With You)</b> (1973)</p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="275" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HXZyp04uxqU?si=cvRFDcASWSUMW2Yn" title="YouTube video player" width="475"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><u>See also</u>:</div><div><b>Music</b>: Harry Nilsson - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dnUv3DUP4E">Without You</a> (1971)</div><div><b>Music</b>: Badfinger - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rISzhSRKUk0">Take It All</a> (1971)</div><div><div><b>Music</b>: Aimee Mann - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJJA5efr2zI">One</a> (Nilsson cover, 1999)</div></div>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-55766219882919801702024-02-08T16:50:00.000+13:002024-02-08T16:50:24.112+13:00I've been forcing myself not to forget, just to feel worse<u>Thursday music corner</u>: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_(band)">Electronic</a> was a supergroup duo founded by New Order's Bernard Sumner and The Smiths' Johnny Marr. They collaborated with Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys, and ex-Kraftwerk member Karl Bartok. Electronic released three albums during the 1990s: the self-titled debut <i>Electronic, Raise the Pressure</i>,<i> </i>and<i> Twisted Tenderness</i>. All reached the UK top 10, and the band scored eight UK top 40 singles.<div><br /></div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Away_with_It">Getting Away With It</a> was Electronic's debut single, co-written by Sumner, Marr and Neil Tennant. The lyrics gently satirise the lyrical themes beloved by Marr's former bandmate Morrissey. Ben Thompson of the NME was impressed by the single, calling it 'the most complete pop record of the week, by an infinite margin...A lovely airy melody drifts in and out of the song; gently weighted with obtuse, lovelorn one-liners...The record somehow manages to be much more than the sum of its parts and stubbornly refuses to give up its element of mystery'. It reached number 12 on the UK pop charts, and number 4 on the US Alternative chart.<div><br /></div><div><b>Electronic - Getting Away With It </b>(1989)</div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="275" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/svz0USluN50?si=EZEgXLp0gd3UxOss" title="YouTube video player" width="475"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><u>See also</u>:</div><div><b>Music</b>: Electronic - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXdm_g2z6Lo">Disappointed</a> (live TOTP, 1992)</div><div><b>Music</b>: New Order - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWuNzXttLVE">Vanishing Point</a> (1989)</div><div><b>Music</b>: Johnny Marr & Neil Finn - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmC5i_Rzgkg">Down On The Corner</a> (live, 2001) </div>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-71437095360731284312024-02-02T20:40:00.001+13:002024-02-02T20:40:27.601+13:00Trump's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic<p>Trump had no idea how to handle [the Covid-19 pandemic]. The virus did not respond to his favorite instruments of power. It could not be cowed by Twitter posts, overpowered by campaign rally chants, or silenced by playground insults. For so long, Trump had believed he could overcome nearly any obstacle through sheer force of will, and in many cases he had been astonishingly successful. Over the course of his seven decades, Trump had managed to bluster and bully his way past bankruptcies, failed business ventures, lenders demanding repayment, fraud and discrimination lawsuits, and, once he reached the White House, a special counsel and even congressional impeachment. But he could not will away a plague. So he tried denial, another favorite Trump tactic. That did not work either.</p><p>The emerging pandemic would expose all the weaknesses of his divisive presidency - his distrust of his own staff and the rest of the government, his intense focus on loyalty and purges, his penchant for encouraging conflict between factions within his own circle, his personal isolation, his obsessive war with the media, his refusal, or inability, to take in new information, and his indecisiveness when forced to make tough decisions.</p><p>Trump had always been indifferent to most substantive policy matters and skeptical of anything that experts, scientific or otherwise, told him. He turned everything into a political question whose answer was whatever would benefit him politically. And that is how he would approach this crisis too. "From the time this thing hit," said an adviser who spoke frequently with the president, "his only calculus was how does it affect my re-election."</p><p><b>- Peter Baker & Susan Glasser, <i>The Divider: Trump in the White House 2017-2021</i>, New York, 2022, p.37</b></p>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-23412729836979607132024-02-01T21:10:00.002+13:002024-02-01T21:10:57.977+13:00I would be wishing today on a four leaf clover<p><u>Thursday music corner</u>: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrone_Davis">Tyrone Davis</a> (1937-2005), later dubbed 'the king of romantic Chicago soul', was born in Mississippi and moved to Chicago in his early twenties. After joining the soul stable of successful Chicago soul producer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Davis_(record_producer)">Carl Davis</a> in 1968 he attained immediate success with his first release, although rather than the A-side A Woman Needs To Be Loved, it was the B-side Can I Change My Mind that became a million-selling hit. Throughout his five-decade career 14 of Davis' albums reached the R&B top 40, and 35 of his singles hit the R&B top 40. He also achieved cross-over success on the national stage, with five US top 40 pop chart hits.</p>Turn Back The Hands of Time was Davis' third single, and it appeared on the 1970 album of the same name. Written by Jack Daniels and Johnny Moore, the single was his biggest hit, topping the R&B charts and reaching number 3 on the US pop charts. The album also reached number 9 on the R&B album charts. <p><b>Tyrone Davis - Turn Back The Hands of Time </b>(1970)</p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="275" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ev4pnOpVS7g?si=hNk5-SM6K_LlBL9S" title="YouTube video player" width="475"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><u>See also</u>:</div><div><b>Music</b>: Tyrone Davis - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBEaDbMNiLE">Can I Change My Mind</a> (1968)</div><div><div><b>Music</b>: Tyrone Davis - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbXIACxwWbo">Turning Point</a> (1975)</div><div><div><b>Music</b>: Tyrone Davis - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcPXPY5QJaM">Are You Serious</a> (1982)</div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-51138882677342394452024-01-31T16:34:00.000+13:002024-01-31T16:34:10.807+13:00"I'd always dreamed of being my own star"<p><i>You've been asked if you're a feminist so many times, and you're tired of that. But after you left Porter [Wagoner]'s show, it became an important moment of empowerment for women. You said, essentially, "I deserve my own space."</i></p><p>Yeah, you're right. I had always dreamed of a show of my own. I'd always dreamed of being my own star. I had never in a million years thought about being just a girl singer in somebody else's band. I kept trying to tell Porter, "I need a little freedom. If I'm going to stay here, I need to do this, do that." Oh Lord, everything I said was a big fight.</p><p>It was the hardest thing I ever did because it was scary, the leaving and the going. Everybody was saying, "You're making a big mistake. You're one of the best, hottest girl singers in the business, and if you leave Porter, you're not likely to do well." I wasn't afraid of my future because I truly believed I had one. But it was the going, having to hurt people that have helped you. Through my intuition and prayer and faith in myself, that's where I got the courage to do it. My first million-selling record [1976's <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_You_Come_Again">Here You Come Again</a></i>] was after I left Porter's show, after I went ahead and took on new management, did all the things I felt I needed to do. I've just been going ever since.</p><p><i>We still live in a world where women are fighting for equal pay, let alone respect. Are you proud that women particularly can turn to you for that example?</i></p>Absolutely. I kept asking for a raise, but the whole time I was with Porter, the whole seven years I stayed, my salary never changed. Porter justified it by the fact that I was making royalties, publishing my songs. He made every excuse. Porter would buy me gifts and publicise the fact he'd got me gifts, when I kept saying, Why don't you just treat me fair? I was never going to be any more than what I was, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter_Wagoner">Porter Wagoner</a>'s girl singer. I didn't want to make as much money as him. It was his show. I don't care if you're a man or a woman or whatever your colour or your religion: if you do the work, you should be paid for it. It's not about anything other than your work.<p><b>- Grayson Haver Currin interviews Dolly Parton, <i>Mojo </i>magazine, November 2023, p.37</b></p>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-5857040425024454072024-01-28T15:57:00.000+13:002024-01-28T15:57:01.767+13:00What Ridley Scott learned from making Blade Runner<p>Midway through, the <i>Guardian</i> ran an interview in which Scott said that he preferred British crews, because he could give them orders and they'd say, "Yes, guv'nor!" The crew printed up T-shirts that read "YES GUV'NOR MY ASS!" Scott and his British compatriots tried to quell the insurrection by wearing T-shirts reading “XENOPНОBIA SUCKS." The budget ran two million dollars over. The final days were a frenzy, with the last scene - Rutger Hauer's moody android death - shot against the last sunrise to dawn before Scott's cameras would be taken from him. In postproduction, Scott was fired - twice - but worked his way back.</p><p>When preview audiences expressed confusion, Scott, against his better judgment, added a voice-over and a happy ending in which Deckard and his android paramour flee Los Angeles; Kubrick gave him helicopter footage left over from <i>The Shining</i>.</p><p><i>Blade Runner</i> came out in June 1982, two weeks after <i>E.T.</i>, which synched better with the sunny Reagan era than Scott's bleak dystopia did. [Pauline] Kael wasn't its only detractor; another critic wrote, "I suspect my blender and toaster oven would just love it." After making six million dollars on its opening weekend, the film all but disappeared. Although it grew into a cult classic and became a touchstone for such filmmakers as Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve (who directed the 2017 sequel), Scott still speaks of <i>Blade Runner</i> with an ache. Asked what it taught him, he sounded like a defiant general routed by an undeserving enemy: "I learned that the only opinion that matters, when all is said and done - even with failure in your face, and you're lying on the mat, crushed - is, What did <i>you</i> think of it?"</p><p><b>- Michael Schulman, 'Napoleon Complex', <i>New Yorker</i>, 13 November 2023, p.43</b></p><u>See also</u>:<br /><b>Movies</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-refreshingly-brutal-candour-of-rko.html">The refreshingly brutal candour of The RKO Story</a>, 27 July 2021<br /><b>Movies</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2020/08/parker-posey-on-working-with.html">Parker Posey on working with Christopher Guest</a>, 31 August 2020<div><b>Movies</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2017/09/young-spielberg.html">Young Spielberg</a>, 27 September 2017</div>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-74224412246864541952024-01-25T17:02:00.000+13:002024-01-25T17:02:24.213+13:00Undo the blue, be bright and shiny new<u>Thursday music corner</u>: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraina_Mancini">Iraina Mancini</a> is a British singer-songwriter and DJ, who released her first album, <i>Undo The Blue</i>, in 2023. The title track of the album, a collaboration with the band <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/10977371-Sunglasses-For-Jaws">Sunglasses for Jaws</a>, was produced by Jagz Kooner (possibly best known for producing Primal Scream's cover of Some Velvet Morning with Kate Moss), and was released as the album's first single in 2022. The 60s-70s influenced music video was directed by New Zealand film director <a href="https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/marc-swadel">Marc Swadel</a>, who has shot music videos for a wide range of artists including Einstürzende Neubauten, Devo, Sonic Youth, The Fall, Teenage Fanclub, Nick Cave, Iggy and the Stooges, The 3Ds, The Clean, Connan Mockasin, Bailterspace, Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh, Pavement, Liam Finn, and The Cramps.<div><br /></div><div><b>Iraina Mancini - Undo The Blue </b>(2022) </div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="275" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IBCX0INBTZY?si=OgWpAKt7_XNo_Pay" title="YouTube video player" width="475"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><u>See also</u>:</div><div><b>Music</b>: Iraina Mancini - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxT6ytQ-rwg">Sugar High</a> (St Etienne remix, 2023)</div><div><b>Music</b>: Jonathan Bree - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX2LwYfi8zI">When We Met</a> (2023)</div><div><b>Music</b>: Primal Scream & Kate Moss - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR7l__Florc">Some Velvet Morning</a> (2003)</div>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-66494130922916571402024-01-22T14:56:00.001+13:002024-01-22T15:03:16.043+13:00Wellington Anniversary Day 1924<p>In 1924 Anniversary Day, the 84th anniversary of the founding of the city of Wellington, fell on 22 January, a Tuesday. The main focuses of anniversary day in the capital were the annual regatta for the nautically minded and the opening of the summer racing carnival at Trentham racetrack for those fond of horseflesh. The capital's womenfolk were encouraged to outfit themselves grandly for the occasion, as this advertisement for racewear in the <i><a href="https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/dominion/1924/01/22/1">Dominion</a> </i>indicates:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgFiWDmB_2zkLiCRL7UyiXiRRlRA5FxrzeMZjlL9zx7BXEW944PjdXhtiGliplyrXfLx5EboRRxQxc4Bltc46AcAmf8cHX-oDq12vdLSOOwyTbpUi-39_cl_fbIZV5N41I9aoFctSmSg7tmDSMXE7RdRD6IRubcBquvVwvANG3JeasKfhXFQmCvJgItNjNq" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="910" data-original-width="661" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgFiWDmB_2zkLiCRL7UyiXiRRlRA5FxrzeMZjlL9zx7BXEW944PjdXhtiGliplyrXfLx5EboRRxQxc4Bltc46AcAmf8cHX-oDq12vdLSOOwyTbpUi-39_cl_fbIZV5N41I9aoFctSmSg7tmDSMXE7RdRD6IRubcBquvVwvANG3JeasKfhXFQmCvJgItNjNq=w464-h640" width="464" /></a></div><p>(The IRD's <a href="https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/monetary-policy/about-monetary-policy/inflation-calculator">inflation calculator</a> estimates that the Shantung silk frock at 37/6 above would cost $225 today).</p><p>The <i>Dominion </i>also reports on the sailing trophy awarded as part of the regatta, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanders_Memorial_Cup">Sanders Cup</a>, which was first given in 1921 in honour of the Great War hero Lt-Cdr <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Edward_Sanders">William Sanders</a> VC DSO. Sanders, the only New Zealand sailor to win the Victoria Cross, successfully drove off a German U-boat on his first mission as captain, but lost his life to another U-boat a few missions later. The Sanders Cup is still competed for today and is the oldest sailing trophy still awarded in New Zealand.</p><p>The <i>Dominion</i>'s editorial is chiefly concerned with political events in Britain, and focuses on the imminent formation of Britain's first ever Labour government, led by <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001vcgv">Ramsay McDonald</a>, within hours of the publication of the article. The editorial takes a sceptical approach to the new administration: </p><p><span face="Muli, sans-serif" style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #0a0a0a; font-size: 16px;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #0a0a0a;">As it is at present organised, the British Labour Party includes, with men of comparatively moderate views, a number of extremists whose talk and ideas are those of the Moscow International. These extremists are, as a group, actively belligerent, and habitually regard all strikes as right and all opposition to strikes as wrong. They are an integral and not by any means unimportant element of the Labour Party. Hitherto they have been at least tacitly accepted in that character by the leaders and representatives of moderate Labour, but a searching test such as the railway strike may provide is not unlikely to demonstrate that the two wings of the Labour Party are incapable of working whole-heartedly together.</span><span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #0a0a0a;"> </span> </span></blockquote><p></p>Elsewhere, the <i>Dominion </i>reported on a fine night's entertainment had the previous evening at Wirths' Circus:<p></p><p><span face="Muli, sans-serif" style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #0a0a0a; font-size: 16px;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Flying Lloyds gave an exhibition of triple somersaulting, double twisting, and reverse flights, done at a height of twenty feet from the ground, the like of which has rarely before been seen in Wellington. They fully merited the thunderous applause with which their turn was greeted. Equally dangerous and calling for the utmost degree of skill, as well as application of nerve and strength, was the turn of Evans and Perez. To climb up a 80-foot pole balanced on the shoulders of a man, and from the top do hand-balancing feats is not an everyday accomplishment, and the spectators literally held their breath.</span></blockquote><p></p><p>Tickets to the circus located at Cable St ranged from three to seven shillings (plus tax), with children half price.<br /></p><u>See also</u>:<br /><b>History</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2015/01/wellington-anniversary-day-1850.html">Wellington Anniversary Day 1850</a>, 22 January 2015<br /><div><b>History</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2015/07/wellington-150-capital-anniversary.html">Wellington 150 - a capital anniversary</a>, 26 July 2015</div><div><b>History</b>: <a href="http://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.co.nz/2009/06/lifeblood-of-young-colony.html">Shipping in Wellington, 1850-70</a>, 12 June 2009</div>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-3344983713103739652024-01-18T17:07:00.000+13:002024-01-18T17:07:12.775+13:00A friend won't say it's over and go out just for spite<p><u>Thursday music corner</u>: Tommy Boyce (1939-94) and Bobby Hart (b.1939), known collectively as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyce_and_Hart">Boyce and Hart</a>, were a singing and songwriting duo best known for their many compositions recorded by the Monkees, including Last Train To Clarksville and most of the band's self-titled first album. The duo also released three studio albums under their own names from 1967 to 1969. </p><p>I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight is Boyce and Hart's most successful single released under their own names, reaching number eight in the US Billboard charts in 1968. It was the title and opening track of their <a href="https://www.discogs.com/master/486915-Tommy-Boyce-Bobby-Hart-I-Wonder-What-Shes-Doing-Tonite">second album</a>, released in 1968. The modern video below featuring 1960s TV actors Barbara Eden and Elizabeth Montgomery is mostly not contemporaneous to the recording, although some of it is from a 1970 episode of Bewitched in which Boyce and Hart are performing a different number, I 'll Blow You A Kiss In The Wind. (Also, Elizabeth: your guitar's not plugged in...)</p><p><b>Boyce & Hart - I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight </b>(1968)</p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="275" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZxBuhNMFDr0?si=5tPLUe-O111FFI-g" title="YouTube video player" width="475"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><u>See also</u>:</div><div><b>Music</b>: Boyce & Hart - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EmWBRj6WFA">The Ambushers</a> (I Wonder b-side, 1968)</div><div><b>Music</b>: The Monkees - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHf7X7Mt66M">Words</a> (1967)</div><div><b>Music</b>: The Monkees - <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2022/07/girl-dont-you-walk-out-weve-got-things.html">A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You</a> (1967)<br /><br /></div>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-44259507037039539052024-01-14T22:12:00.010+13:002024-01-16T22:21:18.564+13:00Wellington Criterion: NZ Cycle Classic<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Road racers cycling the fifth and final day of the Cycle Classic in downtown Wellington, 14 January 2024.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiagtqWuZ3_IO3pBdudEBTTZgW4_Jq8NLQymiwXGbHtH2onubWjwA1LL13u3Pdnp2ibOYbnbTRXIHRUkrvGlLBY7N3IKxTPdc2JVakfUeqaSK30snq3RUtuuhU7awFGORIs2cUrvAx2x5ZzYeRjr54nktPp9L_SpYn1nURGRXCwX5XaRpmqI4Hr88-oxF3W/s4409/DSCF0900.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="4409" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiagtqWuZ3_IO3pBdudEBTTZgW4_Jq8NLQymiwXGbHtH2onubWjwA1LL13u3Pdnp2ibOYbnbTRXIHRUkrvGlLBY7N3IKxTPdc2JVakfUeqaSK30snq3RUtuuhU7awFGORIs2cUrvAx2x5ZzYeRjr54nktPp9L_SpYn1nURGRXCwX5XaRpmqI4Hr88-oxF3W/w400-h165/DSCF0900.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB1tvJvl7yeVFP2N-iIkN9nSyJm_ufwyebwDG2Cd54YxLD7k5sn_Fd0uSRInHnL4cCRIQk5QqGD3H9m30XW_xXErf5CMyHZY6xtiWLw33Jjm3kJ5bXUKAGLLieLACq2anExkvr38jGb0QGaVbehoGk5pIz6D89Izauocyd-ftjE5yV3e1npkOA8-QnOoDZ/s4416/DSCF0904.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1747" data-original-width="4416" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB1tvJvl7yeVFP2N-iIkN9nSyJm_ufwyebwDG2Cd54YxLD7k5sn_Fd0uSRInHnL4cCRIQk5QqGD3H9m30XW_xXErf5CMyHZY6xtiWLw33Jjm3kJ5bXUKAGLLieLACq2anExkvr38jGb0QGaVbehoGk5pIz6D89Izauocyd-ftjE5yV3e1npkOA8-QnOoDZ/w400-h159/DSCF0904.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTiySBcYWqmqP1cBUnka6osxa0ZZVdDuUoXKXL0oSkauPKwFA3m3XTkU4yozV_2UiDTFcWQ2S7bbwH4EyFP7htc6_tAhE8siBi7BqYdT1JFRAu7z5xrno3tsm9VLqNdhvDrePLlFYYs1r_YGLSQM4N-TigY9kxgrNme0995YOz601cfbM7bshPxeJLNJVk/s4416/DSCF0894.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2944" data-original-width="4416" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTiySBcYWqmqP1cBUnka6osxa0ZZVdDuUoXKXL0oSkauPKwFA3m3XTkU4yozV_2UiDTFcWQ2S7bbwH4EyFP7htc6_tAhE8siBi7BqYdT1JFRAu7z5xrno3tsm9VLqNdhvDrePLlFYYs1r_YGLSQM4N-TigY9kxgrNme0995YOz601cfbM7bshPxeJLNJVk/w400-h266/DSCF0894.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-73611158577286664062024-01-13T22:16:00.017+13:002024-01-16T22:21:07.449+13:00Photos from the Basin Reserve T20 double-header<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Photos from the domestic T20 double-header at the Basin Reserve, with Wellington playing Central Districts in women's and men's T20 matches. Wellington Women (the Blaze) <a href="https://scoring.blackcaps.co.nz/?tab=m_scorecard#m082b4c44-0801-4c3b-a7e6-d9e4e83e1658">tied their low-scoring match</a>, and Central Stags <a href="https://scoring.blackcaps.co.nz/?tab=m_scorecard#m3b144318-9331-42ff-8531-b13819b4504a">beat the Wellington Firebirds by six wickets</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC95CzkR9g-pW7M9TXLw6rnA2Lc-Dcacg9Bga5sp-THhlBdo6X6zVWWoWa2JSsoknUn5waCcyBhCJ2wQRr-wHOMbrXsJaIjvFSZ00S2BqV4vQGOhBpSHkwqjROTliaeGtALidH5ry96xfZPMBRUppYOSnfwPJwZZ1vrHkTaS2XSn1nvrA-2cIWUUVygokp/s2944/DSCF0866.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2944" data-original-width="2944" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC95CzkR9g-pW7M9TXLw6rnA2Lc-Dcacg9Bga5sp-THhlBdo6X6zVWWoWa2JSsoknUn5waCcyBhCJ2wQRr-wHOMbrXsJaIjvFSZ00S2BqV4vQGOhBpSHkwqjROTliaeGtALidH5ry96xfZPMBRUppYOSnfwPJwZZ1vrHkTaS2XSn1nvrA-2cIWUUVygokp/w400-h400/DSCF0866.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijv0nMPTiKIqpViZta7NkChqRBgn42vlpCLQfplYY6LKmcwkGtBUE_m2gKhzE0LOMwqEtxiT-NM7WaudWKqM8AmEnX7qX0dVHyst7P-9GpaQTDfDIKDILVRdz1Py4beOgBEGRS9Mo0-SNAeZ8Hj359AUNUo9EPT_I1ql4iaPvU0Vo1kmZwhzuoFTo71YMg/s4416/DSCF0865.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2944" data-original-width="4416" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijv0nMPTiKIqpViZta7NkChqRBgn42vlpCLQfplYY6LKmcwkGtBUE_m2gKhzE0LOMwqEtxiT-NM7WaudWKqM8AmEnX7qX0dVHyst7P-9GpaQTDfDIKDILVRdz1Py4beOgBEGRS9Mo0-SNAeZ8Hj359AUNUo9EPT_I1ql4iaPvU0Vo1kmZwhzuoFTo71YMg/w400-h266/DSCF0865.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJNAHj5nT9IRks9f5uqq46uOPl9hmnWVyUYWXYeT7RU1BV9i4dvhiGyIFDxVG824pvbwc3ut5xGmMRMPfR0rQFkcPrviYlLM4Xic0nVdJjuwsr86Hgzg0OfAR67NxL4Rby4WmyoRwVm5LRGsfXjlDPvcEcAvXKZYm8VoqSokmuWZCPShURZS4BPBDbGAEE/s4416/DSCF0863.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4416" data-original-width="2944" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJNAHj5nT9IRks9f5uqq46uOPl9hmnWVyUYWXYeT7RU1BV9i4dvhiGyIFDxVG824pvbwc3ut5xGmMRMPfR0rQFkcPrviYlLM4Xic0nVdJjuwsr86Hgzg0OfAR67NxL4Rby4WmyoRwVm5LRGsfXjlDPvcEcAvXKZYm8VoqSokmuWZCPShURZS4BPBDbGAEE/w426-h640/DSCF0863.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSWetpr2IrTF2C3ajlH2_-M1WVrRWfQ_TzyjtAEmmY1_Z-2jbTyLPS_kG_0Ny_W6DF-wiZ9TLjtu6z_B3q4UREgiGqwYBoeaOIOVeOlAQoexi9g4uOjrdTN80SfrMhNk4E2nOShqVdLCi763ifhMlekb8KgIKAAhqXwdk9gSqGvMXxAok8e7oAUzBgQTq/s3840/original_2be5903d-8141-4c1a-a2b4-a9dfed36e4b5_PXL_20240112_233449907.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSWetpr2IrTF2C3ajlH2_-M1WVrRWfQ_TzyjtAEmmY1_Z-2jbTyLPS_kG_0Ny_W6DF-wiZ9TLjtu6z_B3q4UREgiGqwYBoeaOIOVeOlAQoexi9g4uOjrdTN80SfrMhNk4E2nOShqVdLCi763ifhMlekb8KgIKAAhqXwdk9gSqGvMXxAok8e7oAUzBgQTq/w400-h225/original_2be5903d-8141-4c1a-a2b4-a9dfed36e4b5_PXL_20240112_233449907.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3x-JCMGOL5utNxJTaj6r_YUzad56LeVfNAqHXEsT2kBKPUqFhFNkaZ7cOCP3e2s1yjmqabWVkEbjNLEU6GM8PRjt8ie-tlKX_cOOYu2qUV8UL-kGYprl1-UaI6_VB5y-HGDVw4SeJdvhJUSdA3p9J7LMTQXDVww8kNcMQZVbi1Qpqhdzvwg5mvnluJAnS/s4416/DSCF0854.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2944" data-original-width="4416" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3x-JCMGOL5utNxJTaj6r_YUzad56LeVfNAqHXEsT2kBKPUqFhFNkaZ7cOCP3e2s1yjmqabWVkEbjNLEU6GM8PRjt8ie-tlKX_cOOYu2qUV8UL-kGYprl1-UaI6_VB5y-HGDVw4SeJdvhJUSdA3p9J7LMTQXDVww8kNcMQZVbi1Qpqhdzvwg5mvnluJAnS/w400-h266/DSCF0854.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-69193082681721550492024-01-11T17:16:00.002+13:002024-01-11T17:16:24.979+13:00Let the heavens shudder baby, I belong to you<u>Thursday music corner</u>: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sundays">The Sundays</a> were an English alternative rock band, formed in 1988 by singer Harriet Wheeler and guitarist David Gavurin. They released three albums between 1990 and their disbandment in 1997, all of which reached the UK top 20, and two of which reached the US top 40.<div><br /></div><div>The ethereal jangle-pop of Goodbye was the band's fourth single, and the second released from their second album, 1992's <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_(The_Sundays_album)">Blind</a></i>. It reached number 27 in the UK pop charts, but performed better in the US, where it reached number 11 in the US Alternative chart. The band's cover of the Rolling Stones' Wild Horses appeared on the single's B-side, and was featured on the soundtracks to the 1996 movie <i>Fear </i>and the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.</div><div><br /></div><div>On a personal note, I was introduced to this album and The Sundays by <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/the-mixtape/audio/2018917764/the-mixtape-fiona-mcdonald">Fiona McDonald</a>, the singer for Strawpeople and the Headless Chickens. We weren't acquainted; rather, she was the Saturday manager of the Sounds music shop adjacent to the Whitcoulls bookshop that I was the Saturday manager of, in the Auckland Downtown Shopping Centre (which closed in 2016 and was replaced by the Commercial Bay development). She was playing the <i>Blind </i>album one Saturday through the shop stereo, and I wandered over during a lull in business to ask who was playing. Thanks Fiona! It was a distinct improvement on the Whitcoulls soundtrack at the time, which thanks to the musical tastes of the shop's regular manager was generally a loop of <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Priscilla,_Queen_of_the_Desert_(soundtrack)">The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert</a> </i>soundtrack. (To this day the introduction to Alicia Bridges' I Love The Nightlife sends shivers down my spine). </div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Sundays - Goodbye </b>(1992)</div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="275" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5NCsAWQxoGk?si=WOnSdLYRg_1XzmWZ" title="YouTube video player" width="475"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><u>See also</u>:</div><div><b>Music</b>: The Sundays - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQqG_I9ZXtg">Wild Horses</a> (1992)</div><div><b>Music</b>: The Sundays - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HV5KfE4xMA">Here's Where The Story Ends</a> (1990)</div><div><b>Music</b>: Strawpeople - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATYqbMv9Qg0">Taller Than God</a> (1996)</div>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-88615399315650790102024-01-06T16:36:00.000+13:002024-01-06T16:36:05.072+13:00The Hollywood golden age movie studiosI had gone back to New York for a while after sound came in, so when I came back, I looked over all the studios to sort of see what each one was like and where I might want to work. Paramount had impressed me always as having a staid, conservative atmosphere. RKO, which had been a financial football for its promoters, had an air of reckless excitement. Everyone who worked there had the feeling that it might close down right after the picture was finished. MGM posed as the aristocrat of the industry, undoubtedly stemming from its reputation for extravagance.... Warner Bros. was a rough-and-ready place, willing to try any idea for a picture as long as [Jack] Warner felt that it would make money. They paid no more than they had to. 20th Century-Fox was a big, sprawling lot on Pico Boulevard, and it suggested the opportunistic. Headed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darryl_F._Zanuck">Darryl F. Zanuck</a>, a disappointed screenwriter - he never outlived it - it emphasized the obvious. While shunning sensitive material, the studio kept one standard of taste and discrimination to which they might point with pride when challenged. Otherwise it was very much the factory. Universal was a happy-go-lucky place, seldom getting top-budget pictures. But they were pretty unconcerned about it. Everyone was completely relaxed and enjoying themselves. At United Artists, not a studio in the same way, one felt relaxed and free. Most of the productions were independent, which usually removed distribution pressures. The schedules were apt to be more generous. Every department was smaller and seemed to be more efficient. I always regretted that I made only one picture there.<div><br /></div><div><b>- Director <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cromwell_(director)">John Cromwell</a> (1886-1979), in J Basinger & S Wasson, <i>Hollywood: The Oral History</i>, New York, 2022, p183-4.</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><u>See also</u>:<br /><b>Movies</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2023/11/dan-duryeas-fetishistic-on-screen-forte.html">Dan Duryea's fetishistic on-screen forte</a>, 29 November 2023<br /><b>Movies</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2023/10/louise-brooks-on-working-with-pandoras.html">Louise Brooks on working with Pabst</a>, 18 October 2023<br /><b>Movies</b>: <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-meticulousness-of-cary-grant.html">The meticulousness of Cary Grant</a>, 29 July 2022Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-23193622046488594742024-01-05T14:55:00.000+13:002024-01-05T14:55:51.601+13:00My top 10 films of 2023<p>In 2023 I watched <b>281 </b>films, which is a new record for me, surpassing the 262 I watched in both 2021 and 2022. I saw 245 of those for the first time, and 28 of the total were 2023 cinematic releases. (I've vowed to see more recent releases in 2024!).</p><p>This year's crop of directors includes a trio with five films each. I saw veteran director <b>John Huston</b>'s <i>The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, The African Queen, Beat The Devil, </i>and <i>The Misfits</i>, all for the first time. <i>The African Queen </i>was a highlight as this year's final Film Society film of the year in the Embassy Grand. <b>Wes Anderson</b> put out a clutch of four shorts on Netflix this year, the best of which was perhaps the Benedict Cumberbatch-starring <i>Poison</i>, and we also enjoyed seeing Anderson's <i>Asteroid City </i>at the Film Festival. One of the cinematic highlights of the year was of course Christopher Nolan's <i>Oppenheimer</i>, which we saw at the Queensgate IMAX, and at home I also watched his three Batman films and rewatched <i>Interstellar</i>. </p><p>Three further directors contributed four films each to my 2023 film diary. My favourite Japanese director, <b>Hirokazu Kore-eda </b>gave us <i>Monster </i>in the Festival, which encouraged a much-deserved rewatch at home of my Blu-rays of his wonderful <i>I Wish, Like Father Like Son</i>, and the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/apr/14/our-little-sister-review-an-exquisite-portrait-of-family-life">peerless </a><i><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/apr/14/our-little-sister-review-an-exquisite-portrait-of-family-life">Our Little Sister</a>. </i>I experienced four films by <b>David Cronenberg </b>for the first time, two with the same name but different plots: the experimental <i>Crimes of the Future </i>(1970) and the body-horror <i>Crimes of the Future </i>(2022), his strikingly inventive <i>Crash </i>plus his first directorial effort <i>Stereo (Tile 3B of a CAEE Educational Mosaic) </i>from 1969. And Mubi's collection of <b>James Ivory </b>films allowed me to see <i>Autobiography of a Princess, Quartet, Heat & Dust </i>and Henry James' <i>The Bostonians</i> for the first time. <i> </i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEit5Ep1QZdlT4ueqgM8bC_SH--LOcuMSFycld95ANJzLnpP66aVve400AqHcWeod0NE710KAFdjyXb9yE60hU7YPfOFXpCnONP4aAtUnzuL7TBfHENJvF4vcmrLkN8gqPTj6tNWpZPKUJvohc2sd8ZsUkO41Rn5HRqYIW4s0tuiSMujRKLNsZel3hInNFfn" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1035" data-original-width="1098" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEit5Ep1QZdlT4ueqgM8bC_SH--LOcuMSFycld95ANJzLnpP66aVve400AqHcWeod0NE710KAFdjyXb9yE60hU7YPfOFXpCnONP4aAtUnzuL7TBfHENJvF4vcmrLkN8gqPTj6tNWpZPKUJvohc2sd8ZsUkO41Rn5HRqYIW4s0tuiSMujRKLNsZel3hInNFfn=w400-h376" width="400" /></a></div><br />In terms of the actors I saw most of this year, <b>Cary Grant </b>was an effortlessly charming front-runner, with nine films on the list, with only his 1946 classic with Hitchcock and Ingrid Bergman, <i>Notorious</i>, being a rewatch. My favourite of the other eight was possibly the 1938 comedy <i>Holiday </i>with Katharine Hepburn, and I also enjoyed <i>People Will Talk, Kiss Them For Me, Born To Be Bad, Gunga Din, Monkey Business, </i>and <i>The Bachelor & the Bobby-Soxer. </i>Only 1932's <i>Sinners in the Sun</i> was a dud, through no fault of Archie's. In 2023 I made a concerted effort to fill in my gaps in <b>Humphrey Bogart</b>'s filmography, knowing that the Film Society year finale of <i>The African Queen </i>was steaming my way. Apart from that classic, I also saw for the first time Bogart's <i>The Caine Mutiny, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, Deadline USA </i>and <i>Beat the Devil. </i><b>Michael Caine </b>appears thanks to his three appearances in Nolan's Batman films, plus Nolan's <i>Interstellar</i> and his <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/michael-caine-muppet-christmas-carol-interview">committed performance as Scrooge</a> in <i>The Muppet Christmas Carol</i>. I enjoyed <b>Florence Pugh </b>in <i>The Wonder</i>, <i>Midsommar </i>and of course <i>Oppenheimer</i> (although <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/08/florence-pugh-says-christopher-nolan-apologized-for-her-small-oppenheimer-role">her small role was rather thankless</a> - while I love his films, Nolan could do with improving his female characters). She was also decent in Olivia Wilde's flawed <i>Don't Worry Darling. </i>And I broke a habit of a lifetime and watched some <b>Tom </b>"world's nicest actor" <b>Hanks</b> films for the first time - apart from <i>Asteroid City</i>, I also saw <i>Catch Me If You Can, Cast Away </i>and <i>Saving Private Ryan</i>.<i> </i>Not sure if I've acquired sufficient tolerance to see him in <i>Forrest Gump</i>, though.<i> </i><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggyXMPu0z4FLXwD71CZzboFVNiFZxg1Qo-XOTR5fhTcR9bnZ7horFDT_kiH5MdVys3O11WGBmhpyXbY24Z6gyXlQ-pIjp4qFjWJPmU7-es_62KZpcW9psIm32NCvdQGHf7nOBEltPn5vnWV9fDtzNJ2HmctHbfnmd7M7-5KVkktk45NVBqvnX6aKTFA-DI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1077" height="383" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggyXMPu0z4FLXwD71CZzboFVNiFZxg1Qo-XOTR5fhTcR9bnZ7horFDT_kiH5MdVys3O11WGBmhpyXbY24Z6gyXlQ-pIjp4qFjWJPmU7-es_62KZpcW9psIm32NCvdQGHf7nOBEltPn5vnWV9fDtzNJ2HmctHbfnmd7M7-5KVkktk45NVBqvnX6aKTFA-DI=w400-h383" width="400" /></a></div><br />And here's my top 10 films of 2023 - this year they're all releases from the calendar year, as opposed to 2022 films I happened to see here in New Zealand in 2023. Contains not one but two Wim Wenders films - a prolific year for a 78-year old! <br /><br /><b>1. Perfect Days (dir. Wim Wenders, Germany/Japan, 2023)</b><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-v8A5I-s9_ZRzEvtgcyXriAldGuQHc1DX2SDJF6AhpDL9QbAT8oY6v9vUt_WzSb877pctq1uUx5sBG4GPG_NDyYIjJvLAeKG2zzEPjvbzoShMlOWuklkBBayNCg5Nrfdi6ngqXkgFzBe4DyM3_iJIxHxVcu4i_mN66MprSfpjAmt-dlnd3ip7l2xz6Eix/s2560/01%20PD.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-v8A5I-s9_ZRzEvtgcyXriAldGuQHc1DX2SDJF6AhpDL9QbAT8oY6v9vUt_WzSb877pctq1uUx5sBG4GPG_NDyYIjJvLAeKG2zzEPjvbzoShMlOWuklkBBayNCg5Nrfdi6ngqXkgFzBe4DyM3_iJIxHxVcu4i_mN66MprSfpjAmt-dlnd3ip7l2xz6Eix/w400-h300/01%20PD.jpg" /></a><br /><br />The cinematic equivalent of a delightful warm bath, in <i>Perfect Days</i> veteran German director Wim Wenders melds his long-established affinity for Japanese life with expert storytelling and unimpeachable casting to illustrate the simple yet touchingly honest tale of Mr Hirayama, a distinguished man in his sixties who spends his days cleaning Tokyo's myriad public toilets. While the film is a highly effective depiction of the dignity afforded by honest labour taken seriously by its practitioners, through the poetic resonances of Hirayama's orderly existence and his daily rituals the viewers are also entwined in the quiet, simple dramas of ordinary life - the delights of long-loved songs, the pleasure of admiring a noble tree each lunchtime, the friendly welcome of regular cafe owners and angelic-voiced bar hosts, the discovery of new-found literary morsels in second-hand bookshops, chance encounters with kind strangers, and unexpected visits from relatives long unseen. Throughout, lead actor Koji Yakusho is riveting and utterly endearing as the noble Hirayama, a quiet man with a passion for doing his job well, and a Japanese everyman's gentle sense of humour. Yakusho's final scene of the film is performed so tremendously skilfully and is so genuinely moving that it's hard to watch without immediately thinking of awards nominations. <i>Perfect Days </i>is a film that deserves a wide audience amongst those who appreciate honest story-telling, wonderful writing (by Wenders collaborator Takuma Takasaki) and acting of the highest possible calibre.<br /><br /><b>2. Monster (dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan, 2023)<br /></b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgKsPtWV6KCFatit1pUVUAmIZS-Jd0tBUcDXTM7Q8UAYEjsEXWOM-hShuSqc-PZMFJXiYuHrBexRnWwR4DaZO5DE7qNx1tmNaVNMKYqBcSNuCkhT7qzei2sL2BI56GvLq-rXnJwzOVPa1d4T_96loDI2fIGJKqqBVK4jQ9ebm3l9C6pTZbwBJK1RUEVg5MZ"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgKsPtWV6KCFatit1pUVUAmIZS-Jd0tBUcDXTM7Q8UAYEjsEXWOM-hShuSqc-PZMFJXiYuHrBexRnWwR4DaZO5DE7qNx1tmNaVNMKYqBcSNuCkhT7qzei2sL2BI56GvLq-rXnJwzOVPa1d4T_96loDI2fIGJKqqBVK4jQ9ebm3l9C6pTZbwBJK1RUEVg5MZ=w400-h300" /></a><br /><br /><div>Another expertly-realised observation of modern Japanese society by one of its two greatest directors. Hirokazu Kore-eda displays his traditional virtuosity with child actors and augments it with an ambitious yet wholly successful plot structure involving interwoven storylines to illustrate an increasingly nuanced and ultimately deeply satisfying and humanistic examination of family life, the power of gossip and innuendo, the Japanese passion for ritualised apology, and how one boy's schoolyard friendship has ramifications for all around him. The director's hallmark typhoon motif returns, as seen most pivotally in 2016's <i>After The Storm</i>, as the catalyst for a deeply engaging and rewarding conclusion. As always, the cast is perfectly selected and performs admirably, and there is a skilful blend of wry humour amongst the drama. Just one glimpse of the delightful grimace of a gossip-mongering mum, relishing passing on her tale of scandalous misbehaviour, sold this charming film to me in an instant.<br /><br /><b>3. Oppenheimer (dir. Christopher Nolan, US/UK, 2023)<br /></b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjerYV659XqNQIEpcbbfwOjfVkQGpwloxTXsVj4MtJJerfZ5ZLP09Y-FC7EtEq7i5AZf3qEhFZ1vrJdilLkyRg3UZAkKTTXnsVxzrqaeVUPlMYEl6KecK-3Vx_5sFliqPIAZ9_VV2Ujio3QsydlsMZJJvFt5KaAgAmd2v-tphuRJgP6g8FOsdk_Qzf4LX5U"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjerYV659XqNQIEpcbbfwOjfVkQGpwloxTXsVj4MtJJerfZ5ZLP09Y-FC7EtEq7i5AZf3qEhFZ1vrJdilLkyRg3UZAkKTTXnsVxzrqaeVUPlMYEl6KecK-3Vx_5sFliqPIAZ9_VV2Ujio3QsydlsMZJJvFt5KaAgAmd2v-tphuRJgP6g8FOsdk_Qzf4LX5U=w400-h225" /></a><br /><br /><i>Oppenheimer</i> is a sumptuous film achievement best experienced in its native IMAX setting, which benefits from Christopher Nolan's most restrained directorial performance in years. The 'timey-wimey' experiments of <i>Tenet</i>, <i>Dunkirk </i>and <i>Inception </i>are barely present here in the wholly intelligible narrative, with the added bonus of the clear delineation of one key timeline (the Strauss hearing) being in black and white to aid viewer comprehension. <br /><br />As a film experience Nolan could have delivered an entirely satisfying package by simply focusing on his thrilling Los Alamos - Trinity A-bomb test sequence, which is exemplary science filmmaking. But instead he expands the film's palate much wider, delving into Oppenheimer's reputation and the post-war battles over his legacy and loyalties amidst the climate of the Red Scare witch-hunts and blacklists that plagued American democracy in the 1940s and 50s. <br /><br />The versatile and gifted Cillian Murphy and, in particular, Robert Downey Jr are likely and deserved Oscar nominations for their roles, and Emily Blunt is a possible nominee too, for her supporting role as the embattled Mrs O. Florence Pugh is as excellent as ever, but isn't given as much to work with in this very male story. The much-loved Tom Conti may also be an outside chance for an acting nomination for his role as Albert Einstein.<br /><br />Visually the film is a delight, with muted colour palettes echoing faded 1940s photography, and much of the success of the picture also derives from the virtuosity and visceral impact of the score by Ludwig Göransson, who also scored <i>Tenet</i>. <br /><br />My only slight criticisms are of one misjudged, but fortunately brief, sex scene involving Murphy and Pugh, which was superfluous to the plot and must have been unpleasant for Pugh to shoot, and the amount of screentime devoted to both hearings (the security clearance panel and the Cabinet confirmation). Some of the time devoted to the latter could easily have been sacrificed for a slightly shorter runtime without diminishing the narrative impact. But then I suppose that would have provided less opportunity for Downey's screen-filling Oscar grab, and in a film this good one has be open-minded!<br /><br /><b>4. Anatomy of a Fall (dir. Justine Triet, France, 2023)<br /></b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhSEZgWenew85u1Wmmv3BxjqA1kND0Jv4wjHtXOq4PV8exxuOZFr4cNXt76mwjS7NGgalMUbKYCi-5PGh2Y60k-vQCgLEITsrfDn5pBEsCrDLZ7yDeZ8TOwgB2XV9NO5sgnCjnc6NV7iFV_ka92Lz9FSLqk57lVFDaEmJqHALco3N3r9-lBP-OdePYDPXPH"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhSEZgWenew85u1Wmmv3BxjqA1kND0Jv4wjHtXOq4PV8exxuOZFr4cNXt76mwjS7NGgalMUbKYCi-5PGh2Y60k-vQCgLEITsrfDn5pBEsCrDLZ7yDeZ8TOwgB2XV9NO5sgnCjnc6NV7iFV_ka92Lz9FSLqk57lVFDaEmJqHALco3N3r9-lBP-OdePYDPXPH=w400-h210" /></a><br /><br /></div><div>An expertly-realised, highly nuanced examination of a contested death, in which the French inquisitorial court system tries to establish the truth in the case of a husband who either fell in a suicide gambit, or was bludgeoned and pushed by his wife. The cross-examination of the wife Sandra, played with customary verve by the burgeoning star, Sandra Hüller, and the testimony of their 11-year-old, partially sighted son, played by the excellent Milo Machado-Graner, are fascinating multi-faceted, and the audience is never railroaded into obvious conclusions regarding Sandra's guilt or otherwise. With a bevy of subtly dramatic twists and a frigidly beautiful alpine setting in the French Alps near Grenoble, Justine Triet's film is a worthy Palme d'Or winner, and one that certainly merits awards for Hüller's central performance as the complex, challenging character that shares her first name. And there's already been a special <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/palm-dog-2023-anatomy-of-a-fall-cannes-border-collie-messi-1235500571/">Palm Dog Award award for supporting canine actor Messi</a>, a handsome fellow who steals scenes from his human colleagues with consummate ease.<br /><br /><b>5. Past Lives (dir. Celine Song, S.Korea/US, 2023)<br /></b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiprsRcEf1yuSyOhfg3KLuQiBn2zbJNOX_13cwOr4dIvk8q4A-DeCfh96TXmccx15BK10NKado4kP64cVDg1mte0S87UysmaX8OH9oHGUXk9mF0hlLt9JeDH-1IqayAnTd4Wkr2p0FS3yArN5Md51pLULaP97qiJRlq6cO9yvuAVu6iCf_MemgAUHtFxjov"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiprsRcEf1yuSyOhfg3KLuQiBn2zbJNOX_13cwOr4dIvk8q4A-DeCfh96TXmccx15BK10NKado4kP64cVDg1mte0S87UysmaX8OH9oHGUXk9mF0hlLt9JeDH-1IqayAnTd4Wkr2p0FS3yArN5Md51pLULaP97qiJRlq6cO9yvuAVu6iCf_MemgAUHtFxjov=w270-h400" /></a><br /><br /><div>A remarkable effort for a first feature, benefiting from soulful performances from its leads and successfully channeling the wistful but never self-pitying gentle mournfulness of Wong Kar-wai's best works. The film contains welcome dashes of gentle humour throughout, and a seamless evocation of the passage of a quarter-century in the blink of an eye. Celine Song's next works will be watched with great interest after this highly proficient debut.<br /><br /><b>6. Killers of the Flower Moon (dir. Martin Scorsese, US, 2023)<br /></b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiNJD17iankcRzoIhr9HaGlOwZ_HBeelY7FAN89LYHv1L0oFy7ehzo1rLGv_wu1WeRGkL8TFX8kgS-VmxqCwe5K2ljkRvsEelp_H0z8ypEMe5LgNlG_PSLUPiSOJrdXcRfHlnghwuhrNsmFkJ6EDGR2WZjhoumsJB5cHoDukQ6sdWD5sHspJKjjFo7z1GBX"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiNJD17iankcRzoIhr9HaGlOwZ_HBeelY7FAN89LYHv1L0oFy7ehzo1rLGv_wu1WeRGkL8TFX8kgS-VmxqCwe5K2ljkRvsEelp_H0z8ypEMe5LgNlG_PSLUPiSOJrdXcRfHlnghwuhrNsmFkJ6EDGR2WZjhoumsJB5cHoDukQ6sdWD5sHspJKjjFo7z1GBX=w267-h400" /></a><br /><br />It takes a major commitment to bring such a harsh and gruelling story to the screen in such an impressive package, but Scorsese excelled himself with <i>Killers of the Flower Moon</i>. Leonardo DiCaprio is to be commended for playing such a thoroughly reprehensible lead character, but equally many of the plaudits should also go to sure-to-be-Oscar-nominated Lily Gladstone for her portrayal of the indefatigable Mollie Kyle. A tough watch, but one of the few modern film that thoroughly justifies its extended (206-minute) intermission-less runtime. </div><div><br /><b>7. Anselm (dir. Wim Wenders, France/Germany, 2023)<br /></b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3PP871hmsm8xzAl5BTTp9lXM1LFtGAjA4xq_y0YFVsAEj9HzpGc82geithJiRhH4C86Si-D2F1upeLpM4lRY97XdifceIWsHmn0NETyNZj38YItjhGp9TJQF47zUp4RJPkxBsAs-in8CKxj4O9Gnt1zKPSiiMVj_dIrXNrMWJmRXF9MdocGfF5pYT5G2X"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3PP871hmsm8xzAl5BTTp9lXM1LFtGAjA4xq_y0YFVsAEj9HzpGc82geithJiRhH4C86Si-D2F1upeLpM4lRY97XdifceIWsHmn0NETyNZj38YItjhGp9TJQF47zUp4RJPkxBsAs-in8CKxj4O9Gnt1zKPSiiMVj_dIrXNrMWJmRXF9MdocGfF5pYT5G2X=w270-h400" /></a><br /><br /></div><div>Wim Wenders returns with his first feature documentary in five years, and also returns to the 3D approach for the first time since <i>The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez</i> in 2016. His methodical survey of the career of post-war German conceptual artist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anselm_Kiefer">Anselm Kiefer</a> makes wonderful use of the medium, and Anselm's art lends itself to this documentary form, as it is often essayed at a grand scale and his atelier have for decades been situated in disused factories and warehouses on a literal industrial scale. There is next to no biographical detail on offer, with a laser-like focus on his artistic process and the way Kiefer addresses German society and culture in the aftermath of the devastating war that ended just as he was born. Several skilful reenactments bridge the decades effectively, using Kiefer's own son and (presumably) a Wenders grandchild to depict the artist as a young man and child, respectively. <i>Anselm </i>is a sensitively-handled celebration of an artist's lengthy career - imagine the verve with which Wenders might have tackled a Friedrich Hundertwasser biopic - and his single-minded artistic vision. It also presumably evokes considerable envy amongst other artists viewing the documentary - all that space to work in; all those industrial quantities of art supplies!</div><div><br /><b>8. Barbie (dir. Greta Gerwig, US, 2023)</b><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgKRtwB1QK_wr4SZjz9dHd7i_r0W5PNceFIcPqNVU0OhI6KrZvtjtYgfa_4pKv7S_mjpMeObRHLOoJCnnh27LvM2qJEicfA4aIPqCQ4DoqNa34i8CQ5FxP-QrGJ2ngVuW-hpHJvmXAcHFp4YaWUWH81kWYgJxeUVIPev-Pj54a77OSixt4Lo8dJJ_LxMKCB"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgKRtwB1QK_wr4SZjz9dHd7i_r0W5PNceFIcPqNVU0OhI6KrZvtjtYgfa_4pKv7S_mjpMeObRHLOoJCnnh27LvM2qJEicfA4aIPqCQ4DoqNa34i8CQ5FxP-QrGJ2ngVuW-hpHJvmXAcHFp4YaWUWH81kWYgJxeUVIPev-Pj54a77OSixt4Lo8dJJ_LxMKCB=w267-h400" /></a><br /><br /></div><div>A subversive delight, with a note-perfect comedic performance by Margot Robbie and a hilarious supporting turn from Ryan Gosling, in a surprisingly iconoclastic and at the same time hugely entertaining slice of popular entertainment. Replete with highly quotable lines and an impressive barrage of dagger-sharp wit, Barbie manages the rare sleight of hand of making the ridiculousness of modern gender stereotypes wickedly amusing and critiquing the hypocrisies of patriarchal injustice and toxic masculinity without verging into dull preachiness. And for those of us who grew up without sisters in the household, it also opens up a window into the truly freaky world of the Barbieverse so many of you ladies grew up with. No wonder we're all messed up! Also, the French poster's translation was <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/warner-bros-raunchy-french-barbie-poster-meaning-1235519470/">somewhat racy</a>, and what a killer final line.<br /><br /><b>9. The Boy & the Heron, dir. Hayao Miyazaki, Japan, 2023)</b><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgy9PkgBUZFs6UVvuzUYh5Uh5Iu9U_4NKZKtvClzG_4q7P9yTj4npV2mTAF9qwMQrZWSBnNj8d0FrBg0gVrUB2g5aA_elCDdzmaSbvnLYw8OpyEWtp9dBAwPfwtO4avA-s86xQQrqPCmIpTGh3DT9zGPh5Z_29qJgvhKNyZ7JyF5WYAyP4qA2NOosqKnxV3"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgy9PkgBUZFs6UVvuzUYh5Uh5Iu9U_4NKZKtvClzG_4q7P9yTj4npV2mTAF9qwMQrZWSBnNj8d0FrBg0gVrUB2g5aA_elCDdzmaSbvnLYw8OpyEWtp9dBAwPfwtO4avA-s86xQQrqPCmIpTGh3DT9zGPh5Z_29qJgvhKNyZ7JyF5WYAyP4qA2NOosqKnxV3=w400-h266" /></a><br /><br /></div><div>Another delightfully off-kilter fairytale outing from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki, exposing young and old alike to his odd mind and the enduring strangeness of his magical, metaphorical kingdoms of the mind. Finally someone brave enough to stick it to those parakeets, who've had things their own way for far too long! [/s] And what a stark contrast with the Disney film trailer that appeared beforehand, illustrating another identical production-line commodity seemingly written by algorithm.<br /><br /><b>10. Fallen Leaves (dir. Aki Kaurismäki, Finland, 2023)</b><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjxAqkx8uN0xdrmIzW3IcvOls9AjUWhU-AN4YFycEr1srSClAXpSLC7cTuzic88A27__ZrZdiGbsBawHaDMSVcbL9fZEnM9BvaL6QK8YhvFradARROpLNX5UAxTv-LK7e6A-2pgg9fSIlHsE2fVGQ8N9DHUua78U1E8Dcdx5KWw6V6zt9MKDIwJWdvQlXHp"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjxAqkx8uN0xdrmIzW3IcvOls9AjUWhU-AN4YFycEr1srSClAXpSLC7cTuzic88A27__ZrZdiGbsBawHaDMSVcbL9fZEnM9BvaL6QK8YhvFradARROpLNX5UAxTv-LK7e6A-2pgg9fSIlHsE2fVGQ8N9DHUua78U1E8Dcdx5KWw6V6zt9MKDIwJWdvQlXHp=w270-h400" /></a></div><div><br />Another deadpan Finnish working-class romance from the acknowledged expert, <i>Fallen Leaves</i> offers the traditional Aki Kaurismäki pleasures - stone-faced inarticulate bruisers, wistful disappointed women, seedy bars full of morose patrons drinking to forget their failed relationships, and heartless employers ready to cast our heroes into poverty at the blink of an eye. The obstacles to romance between the doughty Ansa and alcoholic Holappa are intentionally contrived, with the main pleasures being derived from the dry wit expressed throughout, with Kaurismäki giving many supporting characters wonderfully bleak lines that cumulatively build a sense of inspired silliness, heavily battened-down by the abiding rationale of the filmmaker's worldview, in which modernism and optimism are false prophets, and the simple pleasures of awkward romance always win through. Special mention must also go to scene-stealer Alma, the stray dog who pops up near the end and moves in with the heroine, and who should be put in as many movies as possible, Finnish or not.<br /><br />===</div><div><br /></div><div>Honourable mentions should also go to: <i>The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar, The Creator, Mars Express </i>and <i>Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves</i>. And I look forward to seeing if Ridley Scott is right about <a href="https://www.gamesradar.com/ridley-scott-napoleon-directors-cut-shorter-exclusive/">his four-hour cut of the rushed <i>Napoleon </i>being a superior beast</a>.</div><br /><u>See also</u>:<br /><b>Blog</b>: My top 10 films of <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2023/01/my-top-10-films-of-2022.html">2022</a>, <a href="http://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2022/01/my-top-10-films-of-2021.html">2021</a>, <a href="http://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2021/01/my-top-10-films-of-2020.html">2020</a>, <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">2019</a>, <a href="http://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2019/01/my-top-10-films-of-2018.html">2018</a>, <a href="http://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2018/01/my-top-10-films-of-2017.html">2017</a>, <a href="http://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.co.nz/2016/12/my-top-10-films-of-2016.html">2016</a>, <a href="http://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.co.nz/2016/01/my-top-10-films-of-2015.html">2015</a>, <a href="http://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.co.nz/2014/12/my-top-10-films-of-2014.html">2014</a>, <a href="http://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.co.nz/2013/12/my-top-10-films-of-2013.html">2013</a>, <a href="http://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.co.nz/2012/12/my-best-films-of-2012.html">2012</a>, <a href="http://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.co.nz/2012/01/my-best-and-worst-films-of-2011.html">2011</a>, <a href="http://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.co.nz/2010/12/my-best-and-worst-films-of-2010.html">2010</a><br /></div>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-34464493533851501762024-01-04T17:39:00.003+13:002024-01-04T17:39:55.800+13:00Clara puts her head between her paws<p><u>Thursday music corner</u>: To commemorate what would've been David Bowie's 77th birthday this coming Monday, here's one of my favourite of his album tracks, from my favourite of his many albums. Eight Line Poem features Bowie on piano and Mick Ronson on guitar, and appears as the third track on side A of <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunky_Dory">Hunky Dory</a></i>, Bowie's fourth studio album. </p><p>In his 2000 book <i>The Complete David Bowie, </i>Bowie scholar Nicholas Pegg describes Eight Line Poem as 'an impressionistic snapshot of a city room, in which a cat has just knocked over a spinning mobile while a cactus sits enigmatically in the window. Swamped by the big production numbers around it, Eight Line Poem is quiet, mysterious and strangely magnificent; Bowie's future friend William Burroughs considered the lyric reminiscent of <i>The Waste Land.</i>'</p><p><b>David Bowie - Eight Line Poem (1971) </b></p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="275" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aVqNJKQiPCA?si=p-GOpGxpMzyqaWZ6" title="YouTube video player" width="475"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><u>See also</u>:</div><div><b>Music</b>: David Bowie - <a href="https://slightlyintrepid.blogspot.com/2023/01/strung-out-on-lasers-and-slash-back.html">The Jean Genie / Love Me Do</a> (live, 1973)</div><div><b>Music</b>: David Bowie - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWVI4_pYdmw">Joe The Lion</a> (1977)</div><div><b>Music</b>: David Bowie - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0smYeB7Zxc">The Drowned Girl</a> (1982)</div>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082405419121721387.post-49441740273646371422023-12-21T17:15:00.000+13:002023-12-21T17:15:12.105+13:00My coat contained a furnace where there used to be a guy<p><u>Thursday music corner</u>: US indie group <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Might_Be_Giants">They Might Be Giants</a> formed in Brooklyn in 1982. They have released 18 'grown-up' albums, plus five albums for children. Their most successful album was their third, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_(They_Might_Be_Giants_album)">Flood</a></i>, which was certified platinum in the US and gold in the UK; in the UK it also peaked at number 14 in the national album charts.</p><p>The Statue Got Me High was the first of three singles released from their fourth album, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_18_(album)">Apollo 18</a></i>, in 1992. The album was named after a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canceled_Apollo_missions#Follow-on_lunar_missions">cancelled lunar mission</a>, and the single's lyrics play with the notion of an unlikely statuary-inspired epiphany.</p><p><b>They Might Be Giants - The Statue Got Me High </b>(1992) <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="275" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nb6CDTkUfbY?si=YE1Ijda2pZUA5H9V" title="YouTube video player" width="475"></iframe></p><u>See also</u>:<br /><div><b>Music</b>: They Might Be Giants - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XlO39kCQ-8">Istanbul (Not Constantinople)</a> (1990)</div><b>Music</b>: They Might Be Giants - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erXAq5iTLAw">New York City</a> (1996)<div><b>Music</b>: They Might Be Giants - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JdWlSF195Y">Why Does The Sun Shine?</a> (2009)<div><br /></div></div>Slightly Intrepidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com0