This song can be found on Confidence Man’s debut album, Confident Music For Confident People.
They’re a Melbourne-based band, one that recently announced that “There’s not enough dork in dance music nowadays.” They’re absolutely correct. Dance music should be fun and it should be random and it definitely shouldn’t take itself too seriously. Read more about the wonderful dorkiness of Confidence Man by clicking here!
Enjoy!
“I guess I didn’t know…”
The song is a classic with the famous “I guess I didn’t know” sampled by Eric B & Rakim’s Know the Ledge and the “Get busy, child!” created with the help of DJ Pierre’s track, Summertime (Is Get Busy Time). The song first appeared on Vegas, which is why the video itself opens with footage of Nevada’s best known city. (Sorry, Carson City!)
There were two versions of this video. One version was directed by Lance Bangs and Eli Bonerz. The second version, which was released to capitalize on Busy Child‘s use on the soundtrack of 1998’s Lost In Space, was directed by Clark Eddy. To be absolutely honest, I’m not sure which version this is. I suspect that it’s the first one, if just because of the lack of clips from Lost In Space.
If you haven’t danced to this song, you haven’t danced.
Enjoy!
4 Shots from 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots from 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
If only she hadn’t been destroyed by the Kennedys, Marilyn Monroe would be 92 years old today. Though Marilyn died in 1962, her performances will live forever. This is…
4 Shots From 4 Marilyn Monroe Films
All About Eve (1950, dir by Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
Don’t Bother To Knock (1952, dir by Roy Ward Baker)
Bus Stop (1956, dir by Joshua Logan)
The Misfits (1961, dir by John Huston)
Welcome to the month of June! Can you believe that we’re nearly halfway through 2018?
Now, I have to say that the month of May was not an easy one for me. I spent the entire month having problems with my sinuses, my allergies, and my asthma. I spent two weeks sick in bed and, even as I sit here typing this, I’ve been dealing with a sinus headache. With the temperature projected to get up to 105 this weekend, I doubt I’ll be getting better any time soon.
So, as a result of all that crap, there was a lot that I wanted to do in May that I didn’t get a chance to do. And I know that I have to put my health first and that it’s not the end of the world but still, I feel terrible about it. I’m very thankful to all the contributors here at the Shattered Lens who picked up the slack while I spent last month ill.
So, this month, I’m going to get caught up. I have a big To-Do list with about 250 items on it and I will get them all done before we officially start the second half of the year! That is the promise that I am making to our readers today. I love telling you about the movies and the books and the television shows that I’ve watched. If I can help other people to discover a good movie then I feel like I’ve accomplished something.
What does all that have to do with today’s music video of the day? Lindsey Stirling is one of my favorite performers and, whenever I listen to her, I’m reminded of just how exciting, wonderful, and worthwhile life can be. That’s why I’m picking Lindsey’s video for Crystallize for today’s music video of the day. It may be hot and miserable outside. The news may not always be happy. But goddammit, life is worth the trouble and let’s never forget it!
Enjoy!
Oh, those poor aliens!
Ever since the 1950s, intergalactic diplomats, soldiers, and explorers have come to Earth looking for help. Some of them have come from planets that orbit dying stars. Some represent civilizations that have been destroyed by war or pollution. Some of them have come here looking to inspire us to be more peaceful and less destructive. Others were just looking for something to eat.
What they all have in common is that they all came to Earth and things really didn’t work out that well. Occasionally, they ran into humans who, due to cynicism and skepticism, simply weren’t willing to help. Often, the aliens arrived just to discover that the humans had no interest in being conquered. Remember what Eros yelled at the Plan 9 From Outer Space? “Your stupid, stupid minds!” Oh yeah? Well, our menfolk kicked your ass and blew up your flying saucer. So there.
Consider the sad case of Exeter (Jeff Morrow), the alien at the center of 1955’s This Island Earth. Exeter has come to Earth with his associates and disguised himself as a human. Despite the fact that they all have remarkably high foreheads and a total inability to relate to actual humans, no one seems to suspect that Exeter and his friends are from outer space. Even when he starts recruiting leading scientists to come hang out at his isolated headquarters, it doesn’t seem to occur to anyone that they should be too concerned. Exeter’s just a little bit weird. Why worry?
Well, Dr. Carl Meacham (Rex Reason) is worried! He’s a pilot and a scientist and he’s got a square jaw and one of those deep, 1950s American male voices. Everything that Dr. Meacham says sounds authoritative. When you hear that confident, take-no-prisoners voice, you have no doubt that Eisenhower’s in the White House and everything’s going to be alright. Carl doesn’t trust Exeter and he suspicions are proven correct when he and Dr. Ruth Adams (Faith Domergue) are taken to Exeter’s war-ravaged planet. Not only is the planet on the verge of blowing up but the whole place is crawling with mutants!
Unfortunately, it takes a while for Carl, Ruth, and Exeter to reach the planet. This Island Earth is an oddly structured film. The first third of the film deals with Carl and his squirmy associate, Joe (Robert Nichols), building something called an interocitor. Once Carl has shown that he can follow the alien instruction booklet, Carl is allowed to meet Exeter. (For some reason Joe is left behind.) Once Carl arrives at Exeter HQ, it’s another lengthy wait before he, Ruth, and Exeter are launched into space.
Still, on the plus side, one of the scientists gets to drive this really cool car:
(Unfortunately, the car doesn’t make it to the end of the movie.)
The movie gets a lot better once the action moves to Exeter’s home planet. The planet was a gloriously realized world, a pop art masterpiece:
And then there were the mutants! Look at this thing:
Anyway, despite the slow start, This Island Earth is a classic of 1950s science fiction, one that manages to maintain a perfect balance between the sublime and the ludicrous. Rex Reason and Faith Domergue are inoffensively bland as Carl and Ruth but Jeff Morrow brings a weary and even tragic dignity to the role of Exeter. If nothing else, it lives up to its title by suggesting that Earth actually is just one insignificant island in the vast ocean of the universe and that both humans and aliens are mere slaves to fate. For all of his deep-voiced authority, Carl really doesn’t accomplish much over the course of the film. By that same token, for all of his efforts and his integrity, there’s little that Exeter can do to alter the destiny of his planet. At times, This Island Earth is almost existential in its portrayal of both human and extraterrestrial inability to alter the whims of fate. Of course, it’s also a frequently silly film that will be a lot of fun for anyone who appreciates a good B-movie.
On Saturday night, I watched This Island Earth with my friends in the Late Night Movie Gang. After last week’s experience with Disco Beaver From Outer Space, I decided to play it safe this week. We had a lot of fun with This Island Earth. In case you want to learn how to make an interocitor of your very own, the film is available on YouTube.
As Kedr Livanskiy videos tend to do for me, this one brings back a lot of memories. The only thing better than being young and feeling like you can do anything is surviving to talk about it later.
My best friend Evelyn and I absolutely love Kedr Livanskiy, though we always seem to disagree about what the videos are about. She thinks this video is just about having a good time in Russia. I think it’s about vampires. Of course, I assume that almost every video that I see is about vampires. Still, there are moments where this video has an undeniable Jean Rollin feel to it.
Anyway, regardless of whether you think it’s about vampires or not, enjoy!
According to Collider, the next season of The Walking Dead will be Andrew Lincoln’s last. After eight seasons as the star of The Walking Dead, Lincoln is apparently ready to move on and that means that The Walking Dead is about to lose Rick Grimes.
Of course, the television show began with Rick Grimes waking up from a coma and finding himself in a world that was far different from the one that he remembered. In the early seasons especially, Rick stood-in for the audience. We discovered the realities of the zombie apocalypse at the same time that Rick did. When we were upset over the death of a character, Rick got upset with us. When Rick hoped that a new, better world could somehow be created from the ruins of the old, we hoped along with him. Among an ensemble cast that was filled with talent, Andrew Lincoln was the often underappreciated anchor that held the show’s narrative together.
Of course, many would argue that the show lost its way over the last few seasons. I certainly would. As the show grew more inconsistent, so did Rick’s character. Often times, it seemed like Rick’s personality would change from episode to episode, depending on what the show was trying to accomplish that week. It’s hard not to feel that, as an actor, Andrew Lincoln deserved better than to have to spend the majority of season seven in a nearly catatonic state, silently suffering as Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan devoured every inch of scenery.
And yet, Andrew Lincoln was always good. Sometimes, the scripts were weak. Sometimes, Rick was required to do things that didn’t make much sense. But, through it all, Lincoln remained the anchor. For all intents and purposes, he was The Walking Dead.
In much the same way that Lost simply had no choice but to end with Jack Shepherd sacrificing his life on the island, I’ve always felt that The Walking Dead had little choice but to end with Rick dying. The show has always been his story and it’s always seemed that, when Rick’s life ended, so would the show. Of course, the perfect ending would have been for Rick to die and Carl to pick up the mantle of leadership. Unfortunately, Carl’s dead so that’s not going to happen.
(I realize that the Collider article stated that Lincoln was leaving the show and not that Rick was going to be killed off. But, honestly, it’s hard to imagine this show not milking Rick’s death for all the drama that it can. And, at this point, it would feel like a cop out not to kill him. That’s just not the way things work in the world of The Walking Dead.)
Who will take over as the new leader on The Walking Dead? Maggie was an obvious choice but Lauren Cohan just had a pilot picked up by ABC. (Of course, there’s no guarantee that the ABC series will be a success. For one thing, it’s entitled Whiskey Cavalier, which is one of the stupidest titles I’ve ever come across.) Norman Reedus just managed to get himself a nice pay raise, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Daryl become even more prominent. Or Negan might suddenly turn into a good guy and become the new leader. Who knows? About the only thing we can say for sure is that, with Carl dead and Rick leaving, the show is inevitably going to move further away from the comic that inspired it.
Though they’re two very different shows, it’s hard for me not to compare Andrew Lincoln leaving The Walking Dead to Steve Carell leaving The Office. Let’s just hope that Rick’s replacement won’t be Andy Bernard.
Finally, in honor of the legacy Rick Grimes…
Christopher Lee recorded this version of My Way for Revelation, a 2006 album of covers. This video features Lee at his home in London’s Tufnell Park.
My Way was originally written by Paul Anka, who based the song on a French song called Comme d’habitude. The song, of course, was made famous by Frank Sinatra but it’s also been recorded by everyone from Elvis to Sid Viscous to Jay-Z. As for Lee’s version — well, whatever he may have lacked in vocal range was made up for by the fact that he was Christopher Lee! As for the music video, how could any Hammer horror fan resist the chance to see the inside of Christopher Lee’s home?
There is a strain of melancholy running through Lee’s version but then again, I don’t know if it’s possible to record a non-melancholy version of My Way. On the one hand, it’s a song of triumph. On the other hand, it’s a song that acknowledges that we’re all mortal, even those of us who refuse to compromise and who maintain our independence.
Enjoy!
I’m not really a country music fan but it does seem to be the best genre to go to if you’re looking for a good Memorial Day song. Add to that, I may not be a country music fan but I do like Trace Adkins because he’s like the perfect Texan, even if he is from Louisiana.
To quote from the video’s description on YouTube: “Arlington” is sung from the viewpoint of a soldier, killed in battle and buried at Arlington National Cemetery. It was inspired by United States Marine Corps Corporal Patrick Nixon, who died in battle in 2003.
Someone needs to make a TV show where Trace Adkins and Sam Elliott ride across America on motorcycles and solve crimes.
