I’ll be blunt — given what a mess otherwise-celebrated writer Gene Luen Yang made of things during his run on the “main” Superman title recently, I was initially in the “think I’ll pass on that” camp when I heard that his next project for DC would involve chronicling the exploits of the Man of Steel’s new Chinese counterpart/knock-off. The idea of a teenager given super-powers in a clandestine government-funded experiment sounded kind of played-out, as well, and the more I heard about it, the more I thought the book sounded like a loser.
But then a few preview pages began to leak online, and I had to admit that Viktor Bogdanovic’s art looked pretty good. The small sampling of the script we were able to glean from said pages read reasonably well. And hey, who knows? Maybe heavy-handed editorial dictates — always a strong possibility whenever supposedly-“reformed” serial sexual harasser/assaulter…
British photographer Cornel Lucas was a world-renowned film still photographer who, from the start of his career in the late 1940s, revolutionized the field of film portraiture. During his career he created the defining images of many celebrities at a time when carefully staged publicity photos were essential to the process of turning an actor into a star. Considered to be a master of lighting, Lucas’s work was so influential that, in 1996, he became the first photographer to receive and award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Permanent collections of his work can be found at London’s National Portrait Gallery, The National Media Museum and London’s Photographers’ Gallery. A few examples of Lucas’s work can be found below.
I knew I would get to it eventually, but I honestly didn’t think I would do it this early. Regardless, here’s probably the best known anti-MTV music video at least to come out of their first ten years. First, it’s in all black and white. Second, the group isn’t in the video at all. Finally, almost nothing happens. Sure they would repeat this similar formula for a couple other songs they did, but this is the one people think of. Especially because the song itself defines Generation X very concisely with the line: “you got no war to name us.” A line that would resonant with the MTV audience of the time.
What I like about this video that makes it more than just an anti-MTV music video is that they actually did something interesting with it. They could have just had it start on the speaker and end on the speaker. Nothing else had to happen. They didn’t do that. Instead, they opted for the Michael Snow option. If you look at Michael Snow’s film Wavelength (1967), then you’ll see a lot of similarities. Wavelength is a slow 45 minute zoom across a room to a picture on the opposite wall. Some things do happen in the room during this zoom. However, the film asks you to begin to see the room itself as the character and to treat the other things going on the way you would treat a set. They are just passing around the character of the room. The music video asks you to do the same thing with a slow zoom out and the occasional action of a person in the room. The video asks you to meditate on the song itself along with the room in which someone would sit to listen to the song. The song and a typical environment that someone would listen to it are the characters in this music video. This is in contrast to other music videos that ask you to focus on the artist(s) themselves and a visualization and/or narration of their song.
I love that The Replacements decided to put some thought into this when they really could have just had it stay on that speaker the whole time. I would say it was an under appreciated MTV music video, but I distinctly remember MTV even using a section of the video as a bumper in between videos or commercial breaks.
Enjoy! Even if it’s just for one of the best songs of the 1980s in my opinion.
IT’S A BIKINI WORLD is one of the lowest of the low-budget “Beach Party” ripoffs you’ll ever see. Yet it has a certain charm to it, a likeable little “battle of the sexes” soufflé featuring some great 60’s rock acts and the undeniable appeal of beach bunny Deborah Walley.
Beach stud Mike Samson goes gaga for knockout new redhead Delilah Dawes (Samson and Delilah, get it?). She thinks he’s an egotistical jerk and gives him the big freeze-out, telling him she prefers the “serious type”, so Mike dons a pair of thick glasses and some nerdy duds, passing himself off as intellectual brother “Herbert”. Herbert takes her to museums and zoos, while Mike competes with her in skateboarding and boat races run by local customizer Daddy, owner of hangout The Dungeon. Delilah discovers Mike’s scam, and they compete in a final Cross Country Race that consists of car racing, motorcycles…
Born in Vienna, Leo Fuchs immigrated to the United States in 1939 and sold his first picture (of Eleanor Roosevelt) when he was still a teenager. He dropped out of school when he was 14 years old, apprenticed at Globe Photos in New York, and was a professional photographer at the age of 16. After working a Signal Corps cameraman in Germany in the 1950s, Fuchs remained in Europe and was hired as a still photographer for several European film productions. This led to Fuchs being hired by magazines like Look, Life, and Paris Match to photograph the film stars of the day. He was eventually hired by Universal Pictures to serve as a still photographer for several productions. Fuchs eventually moved into film production.
His photographs are some of the best pictures taken of Hollywood in the 50s and 60s. Below are just a few of them.
Audrey Hepburn (1958)
Audrey Hepburn, with monkey (1958)
Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee (1960)
Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee Walking In The City (1960)
Carl Foreman (1962)
Doris Day and Cary Grant (1961)
Doris Day and Rock Hudson (1960)
Gina Lollobrigida (1958)
Jack Lemmon and Harold Lloyd (1962)
Maria Perschy (1963)
Marlon Brando (1963)
Marlon Brando in A Bedtime Story (1963)
Mary Badham during the filming on To Kill A Mockingbird (1961)
This another one that speaks for itself. When I was a kid and MTV would do lists of the greatest music videos ever made, this always made the list. Of course it did. It’s a great video even if I’m not sure it has anything to do with the song. It’s very creative. Along with Robert Palmer’s Addicted To Love, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, and a handful of other music videos from the 80s, you can pretty much count on everyone having seen this one all these years later. If not, then press play. It’s also the song that makes everyone try to hit a high note that very few people can hit.
Speaking of creative. It also happens to be the first music video used for the literal music video meme.
I would have posted the music video for the Ghostbusters song today, but the amazing literal version is missing from YouTube at the moment. It just isn’t worth posting without it right now.
I can not remember how old I was when I first saw the original Ghostbusters but I know I was young enough that “Gatekeeper” and “Keymaster” went over my head. But I do remember that Ghostbusters was one of my favorite movies from the first time I saw it and that Egon Spengler (played by the much missed Harold Ramis) was always my favorite character.
I know that, for most people, Peter Venkmen (Bill Murray) is their favorite. It is true that Peter got the best lines and Sigourney Weaver. But I always wanted to be Egon. Egon was the one who knew everything. He knew how to track down and capture ghosts. He knew that the only way to defeat Gozer was to cross streams. No matter what happened, Egon was never surprised or scared. Egon always knew what to do. Egon did not get Sigourney Weaver but he did get Annie Potts.
Dan Aykroyd’s Ray Stantz never gets as much attention as either Peter or Egon, even though, without Aykroyd, there never would have been a Ghostbusters. Aykroyd originally envisioned Ghostbusters as being a sci-fi epic that would be a vehicle for him and John Belushi. After Belushi died, Aykroyd and Harold Ramis rewrote the script and scaled back the story. Bill Murray took the role that would have been played by Belushi and the famous ghost, Slimer, was created as a tribute to their fallen friend.
As for Ernie Hudson’s Winston Zeddemore, his role was much larger in the original script. But with each rewrite, Winston’s role got smaller and Peter’s role got larger. Winston’s role is still important because he is the ghostbuster who stands in for the audience. He is not a skeptic like Peter but he’s not a true believer like Ray and Egon. Winston just wants a steady paycheck.
I remember loving the original Ghostbusters when I was a kid but a new Ghostbusters is being released today and I have read that some people think that it is going to destroy my childhood. Since the lovely Lisa Marie Bowman and I are planning on seeing the new Ghostbusters tonight, we rewatched the original on Wednesday. In case my childhood was on the verge of being destroyed, I needed to enjoy it one final time.
32 years after it was first released, the original Ghostbusters holds up well. With the exception of Slimer and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, the special effects are no longer special but the script is still full of laugh out loud moments, from the opening with Bill Murray testing students for ESP to Rick Moranis asking random New Yorkers if they were the Gatekeeper to “It’s true … this man has no dick” to “when someone ask you if you are a god, you say yes!” Even the song is still catchy.
As I watched the original Ghostbusters, I realized that my childhood was not in danger of being destroyed. I hope the remake is good but even if it is terrible, the original Ghostbusters will always be there and it will always be too good to be forgotten. The original Ghostbusters was both smart and funny enough to survive a bad sequel, which Lisa and I made the mistake of watching after we finished the original and about which we swore to never speak again. Ghostbusters will survive a remake. If the remake is bad, it can be placed in storage with Ghostbusters 2, The Phantom Menace, X-Men: Apocalypse, Gus Van Sant’s Psycho, Batman and Robin, and every other ill-conceived remake, reboot, and sequel of the past 50 years. If the remake is good, it will be continuing a fine legacy of comedy. If a new audience enjoys the remake as much as we enjoyed the original, who are any of us to begrudge them that pleasure?
Whether the remake is good or bad, I’m not worried.
My childhood is going to be fine and so is everyone else’s.
Or, at least, it will be until dogs and cats start to live together…
I always wanted to be Egon Spengler.
Through the Shattered Lens 