Notable quote of the day.

From Roger Ebert's review of the remake of Straw Dogs about "David's" and "Amy's" first day in their new home -- the Mississippi small town where she grew up:

Their first day they go into a bar and grill where any sensible person would know to make an immediate U-turn and walk out again.

BTW: Our local newspaper -The Atlanta Journal Constitution -- which often picks up Ebert's reviews, and which is the only local paper I've disliked more than the Manchestser Union Leader,  printed an intellectual comparison of the the original Peckinpah movie from a new York Times article. In it's guide to movies that it prints on Fridays, it gave only the briefest summary of the movie and said "not reviewed for publication." But the AJC should be the topic of another post.

Enjoy the weekend.

The Ecstacy of Morricone

How can you not love it when this man makes music?



And if you've not seen Once Upon a Time in the West, it should be on your bucket list.

This Fascinates Me

Ok. Cloudia caught me sitting at my desk and really made me feel guilty with her latest comment on my last post. (If you've never visited her at Comfort Spiral you are really missing something special.)

I promise I'm coming back to the Blogosphere soon. But I have been busy writing articles about the health benefits of having pets, Ewing's sarcoma, DTaP, and the like, and editing articles about things like rheumatoid arthritis or how to get your dog to eat dog food. (My days are simply eclectic.)

But I am coming back. In the meantime I found this little gem by the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and thought you might enjoy it. (I was looking for a video of the theme to High Noon, but came across this instead and found it fascinating.) Have fun. And in the meantime, please do not forsake me. . .

The day after

Yesterday was truly a great day for America. So I'm not sure why this bothers me. But why in what is supposed to be his most inspiring speech did he use these lines, and why have they become the lines everyone quotes?

I mean I do see their appropriateness, but they are no "Ask not what ..."

Treatment

I know I shouldn't post another poem after just posting one yesterday. But I don't trust what I would say if I did an original post tonight. I just got a heads-up that a very long-term contract is about to come to an end. I'm going to be okay, although this contract saw me through some very lean years when I first started freelancing full time. But what makes me upset is the way I got the notice.

That's another post. Here's the poem. Treatment is a term used in film making. I wrote this poem while attending a short-film festival.

Treatment

Montage, or composition by juxtaposition, is the most characteristic feature of film form.
"The Art of Learning How"

So much depends upon our ability to perceive & to recognize the difference between accident & design.
"Language without Words"

black lines shift through white space
forming simple boxes on animated film
squared edges heave
melting into perfect circles
that breathe to shape
themselves like pears
that grow faces & fall
from trees on terraced
plots where thurber dogs
chase balls that blossom
into thin lined roses spreading
from center screen with a pink tinge
that flares red

dew jeweled petals
against flaming repetitions of dawn

fade full color stills fleshed
3-D thrills of life bleeding
on kitchen floors through looped screams
of gargled deathless pain
out of sync with silent loops of the dying
dissolving to black
pinpoint etchings of light
crisscrossing the screen
until only white space remains

Originally published in A Matter of Mind, Foothills Publishing, 2004.
© copyright 2004, 2009 the Grandpa at The Word Mechanic Blog.
All rights reserved.

Sunday fun day

This is just plain fun, and a classic example of great editing.



I saw the movie three times the first wek it came out.

Wow! I didn't know this until last night.

I learned this from my post I stole from You Tube last night. There is an episode of Magnum PI that combined Sharon Stone, Bladerunner, and the second Borne movie. See for yourself.