Monday, 31 October 2011

I've never seen Short Night of Glass Dolls, but I know Ennio Morricone's atonal "Sospiri Di Morte" will give you the heebie-jeebies

A conscious but paralyzed woman stuffed into a refrigerator is fucking creepy, even though she's a naked Barbara Bach. I don't know how my boner's supposed to feel!
It's not music. It's Ennio.

Filipino American History Month Painting of the Day: "Thriller" by Allison Torneros

'Thriller' by Allison Torneros
This is the final "Filipino American History Month Painting of the Day" post.

"Would you believe Jane Wyman?" and other Halloween hash


It can't be ignored so why try?  Today is Halloween whether we like it or not.

Curmudgeon that I am, I consider Halloween exclusively a children's holiday and always have.  I don't think I've ever participated as an adult.  For one thing, my teeth can no longer handle Sugar Daddies and Mary Janes, and Halloween isn't Halloween without Sugar Daddies...



Maybe it's that I dress up strangely often enough that I don't feel the need for another opportunity.  This year, however, after our little cabaret adventure, I felt it would insensitive not to give poor Cathy a call, and see if she'd be free for some evening festivities. 

I suggested she dress up as Jane Wyman.

Well!  She didn't like that one bit!



Friends, many of you are no doubt familar with Oscar-winning actress Jane Wyman, perhaps from her Eighties-era evening soap, Falcon Crest, or maybe you know that she was married to then-B actor Ronald Reagan, before Mervyn Leroy introduced him to Nancy (how do I know these things?).

Jane's best-remembered films today are probably the two technicolor melodramas she made in the mid-Fifties directed by Douglas Sirk and co-starring Rock Hudson -- Magnificent Obsession and All That Heaven Allows.



Cathy's response to my suggestion was to ask, Seriously, who dresses up for Halloween as Jane Wyman, and do they get any candy?  Then she hung up her princess phone on me.  She thinks she most closely resembles Audrey Hepburn.



I think you'll agree that the resemblance between mid-century Jane Wyman and my cousin is remarkable, especially when dressed in opera-length gloves and McCall's 9152.

I am very fortunate that the big Halloween parade takes place just a stone's throw from my apartment (If you have a very strong throwing arm), and we are invited to a late dinner with friends on the Upper West Side.  Will we be able to stay up that late?  That's always the question since we're all very early-to-bed types here.  (I was under the covers by 10 pm last night.)

Doesn't Jane -- I mean Cathy -- look lovely in her cocktail dress and faux white mink stole?





Should Cathy tell people she's dressed as Jane Wyman, or is this simply an invitation to derision?



Friends, in closing, I must ask you: Do you dress up for Halloween?  If you do, do you actually leave the house or just sit around watching football and waiting for trick-or-treaters?

Have you ever dressed as something/someone so obscure that nobody knew what you were talking about?  Did you care or was it enough that it was your private joke?

Finally, if you were going to dress as Jane Wyman for Halloween, would you wear a little adhesive name tag that said "Hello, my name is Jane Wyman" or would you just wait to be asked?

Whether you're participating or not, Happy Halloween, everybody!

Law & Order: The Complete Series on DVD

Coming to DVD in November: Law & Order: The Complete Series

OWN YOUR COMPLETE LIBRARY OF THE LONGEST RUNNING CRIME DRAMA IN THE HISTORY OF TELEVISION
LAW & ORDER"THE COMPLETE SERIES
NOVEMBER 8, 2011


AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY IN A STUNNING 104-DISC DVD BOX SET,INCLUDING NEVER-BEFORE-RELEASED SEASONS AVAILABLE FOR THEFIRST TIME EVER FROM UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT

"Law & Order," the longest-running crime drama in the history of television, tied with "Gunsmoke" as the longest running drama series ever, is available in its entirety November 8, 2011 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. With plotlines ripped from the headlines, this landmark multi-Emmy award-winning series is not simply a beloved television drama, but also a slice of the American cultural landscape. Through 20 explosive seasons, the devoted New York City crime-fighters and prosecutors of "Law & Order" have set the gold standard for dramatic crime-solving.

"Law & Order" The Complete Series gives fans the chance to follow every investigation from the discovery of the body to the final verdict, since the series' 1990 beginning, on 104 discs available November 8, 2011 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. This unprecedented collection includes 11 full seasons that have never been released on DVD until now. Recapture every compelling case from this incredible series featuring an incomparable ensemble cast and dozens of electric guest stars all packaged in a beautiful 20-season, 104-disc collector's box set. "Law & Order" The Complete Series also includes an exclusive collectible episode guide, as well as hours of exciting bonus material including deleted scenes, featurettes, cast interviews and more, on select seasons.

From Executive Producer and Series Creator Dick Wolf, architect of the most successful brand in the history of primetime television, "Law & Order," the series has featured an all-star cast including Sam Waterson ("I'll Fly Away"), Jerry Orbach (Dirty Dancing), Dennis Farina (Out of Sight), Chris Noth ("Sex and the City"), S. Epatha Merkerson (Lackawanna Blues), Steven Hill (The Firm), Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas), Benjamin Bratt (Traffic), Angie Harmon ("Rizzoli & Isles"), Elizabeth Rohm ("Heroes"), Jesse L. Martin (Rent), Fred Dalton Thompson (Secretariat), Jill Hennessey ("Crossing Jordan"), Jeremy Sisto ("Six Feet Under"), and Anthony Anderson (The Departed), among others.

SYNOPSIS: The Emmy-winning series Law & Order is the longest running crime series of all time and now is available in a complete collection worthy of its iconic status. This incredible set includes every powerful hour made from Law & Order's 20 years on NBC and comes with an exclusive and collectible episode guide. For twenty seasons, Dick Wolf's Primetime series, produced by Wolf Films and Universal Media Studios, has covered the dedicated New York City police who investigated crimes and the district attorneys who prosecuted the offenders. Known for its hard-hitting, ripped-from-the-headlines style, the series showcased the talents of numerous illustrious stars from stage, film and television. Rediscover Law & Order's intelligent writing and the riveting acting that inspired a brand of successful dramas that continues to captivate audiences around the globe.

BOX SET BONUS FEATURES

DELETED AND EXTENDED SCENES
THE CREATION OF LAW & ORDER: An Interview with Dick Wolf about the creation of the series
PREVIEW OF LAW & ORDER INTERACTIVE GAME
LAW & ORDER: THE FIRST THREE SEASONS
JERRY ORBACH TRIBUTE: Highlights from his time on the show with comments from recent "Law & Order" cast members, as well as "Trial By Jury." Also includes commentary about Jerry from past cast members such as Dann Florek and Chris Noth
JERRY ORBACH PROFILE: Commentary from Jerry Orbach, as well as clips from season three as he talks about the cast, characters and stories of Law & Order
AMERICA'S TOP SLEUTHS
HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET CROSSOVER EPISODES
JESSE L. MARTIN PROFILE: An in depth one on one interview where he speaks about growing up, how he got into acting and much, much more
FRED THOMPSON PROFILE: An intimate sit down interview with the Senator where he speaks about how he became a part of the show
SET TOUR WITH JERRY ORBACH: Jerry Orbach takes the viewers on a walk thru the set. Showing all the ins and outs of the set
INTERVIEW WITH FORENSIC SCIENTIST PARK DIETZ
CAST MEMBER PROFILES

Street Date: November 8, 2011
Copyright: 2011 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Aspect Ratio: Full Screen 1.33:1 and Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1

Sunday, 30 October 2011

We're a Hit + Vintage Pattern-palooza!


How thrilling these last few days have been, readers.  Our show, Noah's Very Unusual Insight, was a hit (despite fierce Februrary weather in October), and we're definitely going to do it again -- perhaps in the same space, perhaps on tour and coming to a city near you! 

Of course, you'd expect that I'd have hundreds of photos to post, but friends, I have none.  We did have both performances videotaped, however, so as soon as we get the files from the videographer we'll be posting highlights on YouTube.  There was simply too much going on to remember to snap some backstage pics, though for what it's worth, I did remember to bring my camera to the theater last night.  Oh well.

I will share with you what I wore as Dr. Lorna Gallo, who is a mix of Ingrid Bergman in Spellbound and Ethel Merman in pretty much anything.


I wore the Elaine dress (I'm glad I didn't dump it) with a lab coat on top.


At the flea market I found these great vintage iron-on embroidered letters.  They no longer ironed on -- I mean, they must be sixty years old -- so I just stitched them on.





I also found these vintage rhinestone shank buttons for just $1 -- love 'em! -- though they didn't make it into the show.



Michael wore men's clothes, of course, but he was very excited to have an excuse to darken his nearly invisible eyebrows for the stage.  Here's a test shot.



To shake off post-show blues this morning, I high-tailed it to the flea market and found four fabulous vintage patterns for a price so low I dare not share it for fear you'll hate me.  Here they are: 

Vogue 7282, dating from 1936.  So Irene Dunne!



McCalls 4615, from 1942.  I thought this was a house coat, but the patterns says Misses Evening Dress.  With all those buttons?





Vogue Couturier 354, from 1940.  I love how the back of the pattern reads, Have Fur Collar Made By Furrier.  I'll get right on it.



Finally, McCall's 3640, from 1940.  This bathing suit pattern is a true gem, and can be made in both one-piece and two-piece versions.  Still with its factory folds, too.







So fun!

Friends, that's all I have for you today.  We're a bit exhausted, as you might imagine, but it was really great to perform together and to discover that we're a good onstage team.

And what have you been up to?

Happy Sunday, everybody!

Friday, 28 October 2011

Filipino American History Month Painting of the Day: 1990 graffiti art by Mike "Dream" Francisco

1990 graffiti art by Mike 'Dream' Francisco
(Photo source: Art Crimes)

"Rich on personality": 11 songs by fictional musicians from movies and TV that are surprisingly not terrible

I haven't seen this much guyliner since that time I plowed through a marathon of Lost episodes about Richard Alpert.
1. "This Is a Low" by Swipe (Tamara Drewe)
In High Fidelity director Stephen Frears' entertaining 2010 adaptation of Posy Simmonds' Far from the Madding Crowd-inspired comic strip-turned-graphic novel, childish drummer Ben Sergeant (Dominic Cooper) romances Gemma Arterton's title character, a London newspaper columnist and rock music journalist who, unlike most rock music journalists, looks smokin' in a red tanktop and a pair of Daisy Dukes. Ben may be what's known in the U.K. as a git, but the tunes by him and his Britpop band Swipe are pretty damn catchy, especially "This Is a Low," perhaps the catchiest song about a guy getting his ass kicked by his temperamental girlfriend ever written ("This is a call for a domestic dispute/She's got me by the collar and she's going to shoot"), which is why I've added it to the "Assorted Fistful" and "New Cue Revue" blocks on A Fistful of Soundtracks.

Not to be confused with the Blur tune of the same name, "This Is a Low" (stream it here) has an interesting pedigree. In the movie, the song is a source of tension between Swipe and the disgruntled Ben, who wrote "This Is a Low" and is steaming mad that the rest of the band doesn't give him enough credit for his work, but offscreen, it was actually written by Cooper's younger brother Nathan. (In another interesting tidbit, the female vocalist during "This Is a Low" is Sexy Beast star Ray Winstone's daughter Lois, who has a wordless bit part in Tamara Drewe as Ben's female bandmate and ex-girlfriend.)

Cooper's appearance as the younger version of Tony Stark's industrialist father Howard in Captain America: The First Avenger was an amusing bit of casting because in his Tamara Drewe emo garb, Cooper is a dead ringer for the effeminate partyman characters his cinematic son Robert Downey Jr. played in Weird Science and Back to School.

Ho is short for honey! Woops, wrong Black Sheep.
2. "Black Sheep" by The Clash at Demonhead (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World)
One of the best jokes in HBO's Flight of the Conchords TV series was that Bret and Jemaine were nothing like the Bret and Jemaine they imagined themselves to be in the show's fantasy sequences/musical numbers. In those sequences, Bret and Jemaine were expressive, self-confident and brimming with musical ability, while outside those sequences, Bret and Jemaine were inexpressive, socially awkward and sucky as musicians (they were always seen performing the same song, some terrible acoustic clone of Moby's "Bodyrock," and only one person liked their music, Kristen Schaal's child-like stalker Mel). That decision to make Bret and Jemaine untalented musicians that hardly anybody likes is what distinguishes Flight of the Conchords from other shows about fictional wannabe musicians that are filled with elaborate musical numbers but are worshipful of those characters, like The Monkees, Fame and Glee.

A similar joke recurs throughout Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim graphic novels and Edgar Wright's film version of Pilgrim: Scott (Michael Cera) may be someone we're supposed to root for, despite his dickishness, but the Toronto band he plays bass for, Sex Bob-omb, sounds mediocre (and their Mel is Knives Chau). One of the charms of the original music in Wright's film is the way that Beck, who wrote Sex Bob-omb's material (while Metric, an actual band from Toronto, represented Sex Bob-omb's rival, The Clash at Demonhead, whose wardrobes O'Malley patterned after Metric's), purposely downgraded the quality of his own sound to capture how an amateurish band in the Toronto indie scene would sound like (that is until the climax, when Sex Bob-omb starts to gel at about the same time as Scott gains the power of self-respect).

Scott and his Sex Bob-omb bandmates view the glitzy Clash at Demonhead--led by Scott's ex-girlfriend Envy Adams (Brie Larson)--to be evil corporate sellouts, but the ironic truth is The Clash at Demonhead don't sound as mediocre as Sex Bob-omb do, as we discover during "Black Sheep," sung quite nicely by Larson in the film (while sung by Metric frontwoman Emily Haines in the album version).

"I think that it probably is poking fun at pop music and a band that's just so completely commercialized," said Larson about "Black Sheep" to Collider, "but at the same time, you can't deny that the song is the most infectious song."

No wonder "Black Sheep" was the first tune off the Pilgrim song soundtrack that was introduced to the public (stream the Larson version here). And no wonder Heather Morris likes to do what I imagine are butt crunches to "Black Sheep" while she hears it on her iPod.

Yo, look, it's Cowmeo, the new supergroup formed by Reba McEntire circa 1987 and two of the guys from Cameo.
3. "Odyssey" by Andromeda (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, "Space Rockers")
If Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is as accurate about the 25th century as I expect it to be, then in the future, we'll all be dancing with some giant rubber band/hula hoop/glowstick thing wrapped around us like we're some cross between a raver and Tony Randall and Jack Klugman awkwardly doing the Maypole dance in Central Park in the opening credits of The Odd Couple.

You haven't lived until you've heard Jack Klugman sing 'You're So Vain' during the Odd Couple Sings LP.
(Photo source: Gary Dunaier)
The dancing during the Buck Rogers "Space Rockers" episode may be on the lame side, but the music isn't. Scottish composer Johnny Harris, whose other dope contribution to film and TV music is the funktastic score to the 1970 British psychological thriller Fragment of Fear, came up with the proto-Daft Punk synth-pop instrumental sound of Andromeda, the 25th century's most popular rock band.

Bull's got hair!
Twelve years before actor/song-and-dance man Jerry Orbach took on his most famous and final role, Law & Order's Detective Lennie Briscoe (sort of a kinder, gentler version of his crooked cop character in Prince of the City), he was on the opposite side of the law as Andromeda's evil manager Lars Mangros, who plots to use the synth-pop trio's music as a form of mind control on its teen fans.

A late '70s/early '80s TV show ain't complete with a Judy Landers guest appearance. Judy Landers is the Mark Sheppard of late '70s/early '80s TV.
Besides its guest stars (in addition to Orbach, the episode also features a Landers sister and Bull Shannon, or as I prefer to remember Richard Moll because I'm a Batman: The Animated Series fan, Two-Face), "Space Rockers" is my favorite non-Princess Ardala Buck Rogers episode because of the catchy "Odyssey." The Harris instrumental experienced a bit of a resurgence in 2004 when it turned up on the playlist of the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas funk radio station Bounce FM.

Now here's where the technology that George Lucas utilizes to fuck up his first three Star Wars movies would actually be useful. Get someone to replace the dancers in the Buck Rogers 'Space Rockers' episode with America's Best Dance Crew champions like the Jabbawockeez.
"Odyssey" is surprisingly good synth-pop that's aged well. (The opposite of "Odyssey"--a.k.a. the worst synth-pop ever--has to be that wack "I Am America" song in Herman Cain's weird and creepy cigarette-smoking campaign ad, recorded by some right-wing version of Lady Gaga.) The instrumental is ideal popping-and-locking music. Speaking of which, the Andromeda footage in "Space Rockers" would be much more badass if the Jabbawockeez were on the dance floor instead of those whitebread-looking rubber band/hula hoop/glowstick ravers because the Jabbawockeez are what 25th-century dancing will look more like.



'Let's have some action! Let's have some asses wigglin'... I want some perfection!' I know, I know, it's not a line that The Kid said, but it's my favorite line in Purple Rain.
4. "I Would Die 4 U/Baby I'm a Star" by The Kid (Purple Rain)
Actually, every song by Prince's onscreen alter ego The Kid is not terrible. But the one-two punch of "I Would Die 4 U" and "Baby I'm a Star" (stream it here) has to be my favorite part of both the movie's performance footage and the Purple Rain album. As Jeremy Ohmes notes in PopMatters, "If 'I Would Die 4 U' was Purple Rain's spiritually anguished yin, then 'Baby I'm a Star' was its cocky, narcissistic yang... More than any other song on Purple Rain, 'Baby I'm a Star' documents the unbridled energy and graceful sleaziness that was Prince live."

The porno remake of Walk Hard would be called Walk Hard.
5. "Let's Duet" by Dewey Cox and Darlene Madison (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story)
Director Jake Kasdan's Walk Hard has forever ruined musician biopics for me. It points out how clichéd all musician biopics are by taking aim at every single cliché, from the Oscar-bait moments where the star portrays the subject's emotional meltdown (not since the Sexy Beast underwater heist sequence has a film done so much damage to bathroom sinks) to the dialogue that has all the subtlety of a jackhammer ("That was freaking transcendental, Paul McCartney. Don't you agree, John Lennon?").

What separates Walk Hard from the Epic Movies and Meet the Spartanses of the film parody genre are the intelligence that Kasdan and co-writer Judd Apatow poured into every gag in Walk Hard, whether highbrow or lowbrow, and the Walk Hard songwriters' ability to make Dewey Cox's fake songs, particularly the Johnny and June Carter Cash-inspired double-entendre-fest "Let's Duet," not just authentic and hilarious but also good songs outside the context of the movie. As The A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin notes in his "My Year of Flops" entry on Walk Hard, "Like 'Let's Duet,' Walk Hard is blessed with a fundamental sweetness and a loving attention to detail." Walk Hard is so funny I convulse with laughter even when I'm reading dialogue from it on IMDb's Walk Hard quotes page.



Sometimes, I doubt Sister's commitment to Sparkle motion.
6. "Something He Can Feel" by Sister and the Sisters (Sparkle)
Loosely based on the turbulent history of The Supremes, Sparkle, the story of the rise and fall of the fictional girl group Sister and the Sisters, is exactly the kind of overwrought and poorly written movie about troubled and drug-addicted musicians that Walk Hard rips apart mercilessly.

"[Sparkle singer character Delores] tells her mother that there's more to life than being a maid (which is true) but her speech is some White guy's idea of Black power. She says she's leaving because she's tired of taking the White man's shit. Fine, but where the fuck is she going when she leaves? It's 1958," wrote blogger Odienator in his funny 2008 takedown of the Joel Schumacher-scripted, currently-being-remade 1976 melodrama. "I have no fucking idea why Sparkle is beloved by us [African American viewers]. It's a terrible film, despite the acting and the soundtrack."

Yes, that Curtis Mayfield-produced soundtrack is--like all of the late Mayfield's other film music work--amazing and an example of how much of an outstanding and insightful lyricist Mayfield was. "Something He Can Feel" was a big 1976 hit for Aretha Franklin, who, with the Kitty Haywood Singers on backup, sung all the tracks on the Sparkle soundtrack album instead of Sparkle stars Lonette McKee, Irene Cara and Dwan Smith (many fans of the film feel that the actresses got gypped big-time when their vocals were ditched for Franklin's).



My first exposure to "Something He Can Feel" wasn't through Sparkle or Aretha. It was through En Vogue's sultry video for "Giving Him Something He Can Feel," one of two cover versions of Sparkle numbers that the girl group recorded for their hit 1992 album Funky Divas. The video features cameos by Sparkle cast member Dorian Harewood, Johnny Gill and El DeBarge and an appearance by a pre-Oz-and-Lost Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. Harewood, Gill, DeBarge and Akinnuoye-Agbaje are among the nightclub audience members in the video who are enthralled (or in some cases, reduced to a sweaty and trembly mess) by Cindy, Dawn, Terry and Maxine in their slinky red dresses. The video dropped when I was in my teens, so the way Cindy, Dawn, Terry and Maxine looked during "Giving Him Something He Can Feel" had a similar effect on me: that video was probably the one that made my voice turn from falsetto to baritone.

7. "I Can Dream About You" by The Sorels (Streets of Fire)
Walter Hill's rock n' roll musical tanked big-time in the summer of 1984, but the movie's R&B number "I Can Dream About You" was a smash, and it's not hard to see why. I hate the word "transcendent" because it's so pompous-sounding and James Lipton-y, but that's the best adjective that could describe the late Dan Hartman's slice of blue-eyed soul.

Both versions of "I Can Dream About You" are terrific. Hartman performed the single version, while the film version was sung by the late Winston Ford (and lip-synched by a moonwalking Stoney Jackson) and was the version that MCA Records used in the "I Can Dream About You" video that aired frequently on MTV in the summer of 1984. The latter version is particularly noteworthy because two of the members of the film's fake doo-wop group The Sorels (pronounced "SIR-ells"--thanks, Rocklopedia Fakebandica!) are a pre-Hollywood Shuffle Robert Townsend and a pre-Forrest Gump Mykelti Williamson.



It says 'ROM.' Are they performing at ROM the Spaceknight's sweet-16 party?
8. "Find It" by The Kelly Affair (Beyond the Valley of the Dolls)
Was '70s Battlestar Galactica composer Stu Phillips aware that he came up with an early version of punk when he composed "Find It" for Russ Meyer and Roger Ebert's 1970 comedic masterpiece?



9. "Say No More (Mon Amour)" by Rex Manning (Empire Records)
We've all had a "Say No More (Mon Amour)" in our lives: a dumb and overplayed pop song we refuse to admit liking, even though we might dig its rhythm section or choice of samples, whether it's "Rump Shaker" by Wreckx-N-Effect, "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)" by Pitbull or any song by The Fratellis. One of the best and most dead-on touches in the otherwise inconsistently and sloppily written Empire Records (besides how brilliant a parody of vapid late '80s/early '90s pop music "Say No More" is) is how the title store's employees continually diss Adam Ant-esque, puffy shirt-clad pop star Rex Manning (Maxwell Caulfield) and view him as a toolish sellout but are utterly powerless when exposed to the sounds of Rex's biggest and cheesiest hit and can't help but dance to it.

Aspiring graphic designer A.J. (Johnny Whitworth) is an emo dumbass who refers to the very Japanese Mr. Miyagi as "the Chinese guy from The Karate Kid" and is someone we'd wish would slip off the Empire Records rooftop and fall to his death whenever we have to hear him attempt to tell his co-worker Corey (Liv Tyler) he loves her. But A.J. has one likable moment where he tries to cheer up the suicidal Deb (Robin Tunney in shaven-headed riot grrrl mode) by dancing like an idiot to "Say No More" and getting her to join him (everyone else in the store who's not Anthony LaPaglia ends up joining A.J. and Deb in their dance too). Aside from the The The "This Is the Day" dance (stutter-lanche!) on the rooftop in the film's finale, it's the happiest we see A.J. or Deb look in the film.



10. "I'm Just a Human" by New Human Formantics (Fear of a Black Hat)
Influenced by This Is Spinal Tap, star/director Rusty Cundieff's 1993 mockumentary poked fun at the excesses of gangsta rap and even imbued the members of N.W.H. (Niggaz with Hats) with a Spinal Tap-like trait: a tendency to try on and then quickly discard musical trends as if those trends were groupies. At one point, an N.W.H. member dabbles in pseudo-political, C&C Music Factory-style dance pop with "Come Pet the P.U.S.S.Y." (the acronym stands for "Political Unrest Stabilizes Society, Yes").

But the funniest of Fear of a Black Hat's fake tunes has to be ex-N.W.H. member Tone Def's solo effort "I'm Just a Human," a parody of the New Age rap duo P.M. Dawn's 1991 hit "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" (that's Mark Christopher Lawrence, a.k.a. Big Mike from Chuck, as Tone Def, espousing his Stephen Colbert-style "I don't see color" philosophy to the documentarian character played by future Talk to Me director Kasi Lemmons). A plea for racial tolerance ("You are just like me/I'm just a human") morphs into one of the most delightfully disgusting songs ever written ("'Cause black, white, yellow, red, brown or gold/Our shit all comes from the same little hole"). And as a bonus, the album version of "I'm Just a Human" gets even more delightfully disgusting ("Sometimes I smell the lint from my belly button/How could something so small make a stench so rotten?").



11. B-Rabbit's freestyle against Papa Doc, the top battle rapper in Detroit (8 Mile)
Troubled and unconfident Detroit battle rapper B-Rabbit (Eminem) is ashamed of his white-trashiness. But at the end of 8 Mile, B-Rabbit gains the power of self-respect like another fictional musician, the aforementioned Scott Pilgrim, and learns to wear his trailer-park background with pride--with the help of the instrumental version of Mobb Deep's tough-as-nails, Quincy Jones Dollars soundtrack-sampling "Shook Ones (Part II)"--in one of the greatest using-your-weakness-as-a-strength moments on film since, I don't know, John Cusack skied on one ski in Better Off Dead.



Okay, on second thought, that was more awesome than the Cusack-skiing-on-one-ski scene in Better Off Dead.

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

Filipino American History Month Painting of the Day: "Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana (Filipino Americans: A Glorious History, A Golden Legacy)" by Eliseo Art Silva

'Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana (Filipino Americans: A Glorious History, A Golden Legacy)' by Eliseo Art Silva
(Photo source: BakitWhy)
At 145 feet x 25 feet, muralist Eliseo Art Silva's 1995 piece "Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana" in L.A.'s Historic Filipinotown is the largest Filipino American mural in the United States. Author Carlos Bulosan, California farm workers movement leaders Philip Vera Cruz and Larry Itliong, 11th Philippines President Corazon Aquino, her assassinated husband Senator Ninoy Aquino, Renaissance man and political activist José Rizal and Lapu-Lapu--the cat who whupped some colonialist ass in 1521--are among the figures whom Silva depicted in "Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana."

'Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana (Filipino Americans: A Glorious History, A Golden Legacy)' by Eliseo Art Silva
(Photo source: Filipino American Artists Network)

'Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana (Filipino Americans: A Glorious History, A Golden Legacy)' by Eliseo Art Silva
(Photo source: Filipino American Artists Network)


Hidden Hi Fi: Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana Mural ("Filipino Americans: A Glorious History, A Golden Legacy" Mural) from Out the Window on Vimeo.

Tuesday, 25 October 2011

Filipino American History Month Painting of the Day: "Hello Like Before" by Leo Valledor

'Hello Like Before' by Leo Valledor
(Photo source: Vangobot)

Chewsday

Chew #12 by John Layman and Rob Guillory
Random Chew page of the week (from Chew #12)

Revisiting Vinyl



Readers, you are to be forgiven if you assume that today's blog post is about my three-plus yards of faux snakeskin, which has been sitting in my fabric stash for nearly two years now.  I am still waiting for the perfect project for it and I don't think it will be Prachee's dress.

No, today I am writing about something related to my daily ditch ritual, which continues, btw, though I sometimes forget to mention it.  Remember how I recently sold my oversized bike on Craigslist?  Well yesterday I finally dumped all the bike-related clutter: helmet (did you know those had expiration dates?) and lock (This is one of those Kryptonite designs it was later discovered could be picked with a hairpin or something, but I still had the bracket and keys, so it might be worth something to somebody.).



One of the best results of the daily ditch was that I have rediscovered my record collection.  To those who have no familiarity with records, this was a form of recorded music on vinyl.  Most people bought lp's or long-playing records that came in albums, named thus because at one time they were stored photo-album style in multiple sleeves.

I hadn't had my stereo set up for many years, and I had winnowed my record collection down considerably over the years.  But I still had my favorites.  Hundreds of favorites.







I decided that, not only would I not ditch my turntable and receiver, but I would set them up again, and listen with headphones.



Then, lo and behold, over the weekend I found a pair of Advent mini speakers in the trash.  Not great, but adequate.



Yesterday, for the first time in nearly five years, I bought new (to me) records, $1 each at the Salvation Army.  I don't think either will be available on CD any time soon, do you?



If you haven't heard Robert Goulet sing "Both Sides Now," you're in for a treat -- or something.  Seriously, I love Robert Goulet and was privileged to get to see him "La Cage Aux Folles" a few years back on Broadway and chat with him briefly after the show.   He was extremely polite and down to earth.  And short.

Friends, do you now or did you ever own records?  If the former, do you still play them?  Even on relatively cheap speakers, I find they have an aural "presence" you just don't get on CDs.  Maybe I'm biased.  Even the occasional hisses, pops, and skips sound charming.

And now I must away for rehearsal -- we open Thursday!  Come see us at the Duplex.


What am I going to do with my faux snakeskin....?

Have a great day, everybody!