Daily Archives: September 13, 2020

Lisa’s Week In Review: 9/7/20 — 9/13/20

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, I rested.

Films I Watched:

  1. The Binge (2020)
  2. The Cleaning Lady (2019)
  3. The Dalton Gang (2020)
  4. Have A Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics (2020)
  5. i’m thinking of ending things (2020)
  6. John Was Trying To Contact Aliens (2020)
  7. The Lost Husband (2020)
  8. Pool Boy Nightmare (2020)
  9. Satan’s Triangle (1975)
  10. She’s Out of Control (1989)
  11. The Silence (2019)
  12. Villain (2020)
  13. Woodstock (1970)
  14. The Wraith (1987)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. Bar Rescue
  2. Big Brother 22
  3. The Bold and the Beautiful
  4. Days of Our Lives
  5. Doctor Phil
  6. Dragnet
  7. General Hospital
  8. Great Performances: Romeo and Juliet
  9. King of the Hill
  10. Kolchak: The Night Stalker
  11. The Love Boat
  12. Love Island
  13. The Office
  14. The Powers of Matthew Star
  15. Saved By The Bell
  16. The Vow
  17. The Young and the Restless

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Arthur H
  2. Audioslave
  3. Avicii
  4. Big Data
  5. The Black Keys
  6. Blanck Mass
  7. Britney Spears
  8. The Chemical Brothers
  9. Culture Club
  10. Katy Perry
  11. Lord Huron
  12. Muse
  13. Phantogram
  14. The Police
  15. Saint Motel
  16. Taylor Swift
  17. The White Stripes

Links From Last Week:

  1. Oscar Shakes Up Best Picture Eligibility Standards; Strict New Diversity Requirements Take Full Effect In 2024
  2. The Oscars Diversity Misdirection
  3. Why the Oscars Diversity Rules Should Be Embraced by All Members
  4. ‘Cancel Netflix’ Backlash Grows Over ‘Cuties’ Film’s Sexualization of Young Girls
  5. The Walking Dead to end in 2022 – but will live on through spin-offs
  6. ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Release Date Pushed to Christmas

Links From The Site:

  1. Erin profiled Stewart Rouse and shared: More Work For The Undertaker, Triumph of the Spider Monkey, A Bloody Business, Ashenden, World Trade Center Under Construction 1970, The Ecstasy Connection, and Diamonds Are For Dying!
  2. Doc wished all of you a Happy Labor Day!
  3. Jeff paid tribute to Diana Rigg and shared music videos from Jimmy Buffett, Suzanne Vega, Madness, 311, and Tesla.  He reviewed The Song Remains The Same, Wedlock, The Dalton Gang, Apache Territory, Operation Cobra, Charles Bronson: Hollywood’s Lone Wolf, and Julius Caesar!
  4. I wished happy birthdays to Dario Argento and Brian De Palma and I shared a scene from Four Flies on Grey Velvet!  I shared music videos from Avicii and Arthur H and I also shared the trailers for Nomadland and Rebecca!
  5. Leonard shared the Dune trailer!
  6. Ryan reviewed Pulp Friction and Whisnant!

More From Us:

  1. Ryan has a patreon!  You should consider subscribing!
  2. For the Big Brother Blog, I wrote about …. you guessed it! …. Big Brother!
  3. At my music site, I shared songs from Britney Spears, Muse, Lord Huron, The Black Keys, The White Stripes, Audioslave, and Big Data!
  4. On her photography site, Erin shared: Empty Street, Underpass, A Place to Reflect, Tracks in the Grass, Patriots Day, Back Yard, and Fencing!

Want to see what I did last week?  Click here!

Julius Caesar (1970, directed by Stuart Burge)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

In ancient Rome, under the direction of Cassius (Richard Johnson), several members of the Senate conspire to kill Julius Caesar (John Gielgud), believing that his death is the only way to preserve the Republic.  Even Caesar’s longtime friend, Brutus (Jason Robards), is brought into the conspiracy.  Unfortunately for the conspirators, after Caesar’s murder, Mark Antony (Charlton Heston) gives his famous speech asking the Romans to lend him their ears and the Roman citizens turn against Caesar’s murderers and instead look to Antony and Octavius (Richard Chamberlain) to lead them.

This was the first adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play to be filmed in color and the assassination of Caesar was portrayed much more graphically than in previous productions.  By the end of the attack, Caesar has been stabbed so many times and there’s so much blood on screen that it doesn’t seem like he should even have the strength to say, “Et tu, Brute?”  Despite the then-modern innovations, this version still feels creaky and stiff.  When Caesar makes his appearance on the Ides of March, all of the conspirators actually stand in a neat line while Caesar enters the Senate.  When Mark Anthony and Brutus make their speeches, the extras playing the Roman citizens looked bored and disinterested.

For most viewers, the appeal of this version of Julius Caesar will be for the cast, which was considered to be all-star in 1970.  Along with Gielgud, Robards, Heston, Johnson, and Chamberlain, the cast also features Robert Vaughn as Casca, Christopher Lee as Artemidorous, Jill Bennett as Calpurnia, and Diana Rigg as Portia.  Surprisingly, it’s Jason Robards, the Broadway veteran, who struggles with Shakespeare’s dialogue, delivering his lines flatly and without much emotion.  Meanwhile, Charlton Heston steals the entire film as Mark Antony, nailing Antony’s funeral oration and proving himself to be much more clever than the conspirators had originally assumed.  (Of course, Mark Antony was the Charlton Heston of his day so I guess it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that Heston is perfect in the role.)  I also liked Diana Rigg’s performance in the small role of Portia and Robert Vaughn’s devious interpretation of Casca.

Though he plays Caesar here, John Gielgud previously played Cassius in the 1953 version of Julius Caesar, the one with James Mason and Marlon Brando.  That is still the version to watch if you want to see the definitive adaptation of Julius Caesar.

Music Video of the Day: Signs, covered by Tesla (1990, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Tesla did not come up with this song on their own.  Instead, Signs was written by Les Emmerson in the late 60s and it was a hit for Five Man Electrical Band in 1970.  The song was inspired by a trip Emmerson took down Route 66.  While driving, Emmerson noticed that there were a lot of … you guessed it … signs!  Embraced by the “long-haired freaky” people mentioned in the opening lyrics, Signs became a surprise hit.

Twenty years later, the song was revived when Tesla performed an acoustic version of the song.  At the time, Tesla was the opening act for Motley Crue’s Dr. Feelgood tour but, because they had an off-day, the band booked an acoustic show.  Each member of the band picked a different song to perform.  Signs was selected by lead singer Jeff Keith, who grew up in Oklahoma and, as you can see in the video, had some definite thoughts when it came to signs blocking out the scenery (or “fucking up the scenery” as the band put it in the uncensored version of the song).

Signs is a good example of song that probably would have been forgotten if not for MTV.  When the song was originally released, it didn’t get much attention but the subsequent video proved to be popular and the song eventually became a hit.  The success of Signs led to other bands do acoustic shows and eventually MTV launching Unplugged.

Enjoy!