ambasadorr: February 2008

Friday, February 29, 2008

Only a child...

Severn Cullis-Suzuki (born 1979) is an environmental activist, speaker, television host and author. She has spoken around the world about environmental issues, urging listeners to define their values, act with the future in mind, and take individual responsibility.[1]

In 1992, at the age of 12, Cullis-Suzuki raised money with members of ECO, the Environmental Children Organization (a group she founded) to attend the Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro. Along with group members Michelle Quigg, Vanessa Suttie, and Morgan Geisler, Severn presented environmental issues from a youth perspective at the Summit, where she received a standing ovation for a speech to the delegates.[2][3] The group also addressed delegates at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). Here you can find the original speech transcript in English.

The young can't wait is an article she wrote for Time magazine. in 2002. In that article she wrote:

But in the 10 years since Rio, I have learned that addressing our leaders is not enough. As Gandhi said many years ago, "We must become the change we want to see." I know change is possible, because I am changing, still figuring out what I think. I am still deciding how to live my life. The challenges are great, but if we accept individual responsibility and make sustainable choices, we will rise to the challenges, and we will become part of the positive tide of change.

Here you can see a photo story where you can read and listen about more people like Severn who have fought for saving the world of making it a better place for everybody to live in peace and harmony.

Now, what do you think about what Severn said that day back in 1992? is is still something we have to worry about?

Source: Wikipedia

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Cute Things to Share

Last month while entangling myself in the web, I discovered a very cute key chain! I "hearted" it. Then realized a few weeks later that I would treat myself and purchase it! This is how it was wrapped, uhm, well, not quite. I actually tore into it! I did notice how beautifully it was wrapped as I quickly flipped the package over to rip the tape. I opened it and all of the pretty things tumbled onto the table, gently! I realized my mistake and carefully tried to put the package back together again! So, as pretty as this looks, it was far better before I touched it. Every fold was carefully made and creased.

Such care was taken! As well as the attention to the contents! A beautifully made Wristlet Key Chain!

Ah, you ask, "Where may I get my hands/ wrist around such a lovely treasure? A utilitarian beauty!? Right over at Jimmy Pickles that is where!!!

I love all of her promotional add-ins. And a piece of candy that I believe will help you to whistle.

I must say that this wristlet will hold up to the toughest schedule all while looking pretty cute! Or if you prefer... another mood that you can find in her other fabric choices! :)
Have fun!!!
Oh yes! I will be showing you the Apres Photos of the sconce very soon!

Cute Things to Share

Such care was taken! As well as the attention to the contents! A beautifully made Wristlet Key Chain!

iPods Are for Pod People

Digital revolution replaces listening to music by filing it

I just picked up the new issue of UGLY THINGS, Mike Stax's wonderful bi-annual garage rock music mag, and had an epiphany while reading Tim Earnshaw' "Ugly Thinks" column. Earnshaw was writing about how the iPod Generation's almost unlimited access to songs has made listening to music routine.

"When you have routine access to thousands of songs, listening to music can be routine."

Yes, so true! Gil Scott-Heron was wrong. The revolution will be televised. And podcast. And uploaded to the Internet where it can be bit streamed and downloaded via Bit Torrents. But the end result is that the revolution becomes institution. Ordinary. Hum-drum.

Full disclosure: I have an iPod Shuffle. Which I sometimes enjoy, especially when riding mass transit or walking down the street as it allows me to ignore crazy people screaming at me or asking me for money. But, like the Replicants in Bladerunner, I'm physical. That is, I like to have and to hold my music, in my hand, with liner notes and pictures. (Hopelessly Old School, I know.)

Too Much, Too Soon?

Earnshaw observes that "The digital revolution has replaced listening to music by filing it" and earnestly continues:

It's a long way from having the choice of how many times you're going to play this single, to having the choice of listening to pretty much anything you want, and I'm not convinced it's made the core experience, the listening, any more intense.

The iPod generation has its own illusory random access generator. Sure, the shuffle feature may seem to enable fugitive listening, but unless you stole the damn thing you're going to have a pretty good idea of what's on there, and it's only the sequence that surprises. Downloading MP3s from the internet has become a listening-replacement activity in itself. We all know the pulpy guy with bad skin who spends more time hunting for and downloading MP3s (stock his basement for the apocalypse) than he does listening to them, filling additional hard disks with material he has vague plans, perhaps, of getting around to listening to someday. When choice of listening is determined by a mouse click, not even requiring the slothlike physical activity of crawling to the stereo and the knee-crippling crouch by the [record shelf] racks, skipping from the Misunderstood to Burning Spear in mid-song has never been easier, so that's all you tend to do, like zapping the TV...the stoned communion has become partitioned office-work, or white-wired isolation on public transport. iPods are for pod people.

Radio? It's become so niched, with musical surprise being deemed a Bad Thing for a healthy demographic, that I doubt it has the revelatory power it used to. And now, more of the same, to take you up to the news at the top of the hour. You're missed, John Peel.

For me, and perhaps for you, the idea that anything new and exciting is even possible anymore in pop and rock, in the sense that it damn well was back then, is a vague hope at best...

What we need is to hear the music for the first time again, to be swept up out of the world by grace, not choice."

Related Links:
Ugly Things website (www.ugly-things.com)
Ugly Things (Wikipedia)

Forward Into the Past

No Future? Rewind. Playback.

I love music compilation records and I recently picked up the following two '70s and '80s punk/DIY/New Wave CD comps as part of my ever increasing musical Completion Backward Principle. The obvious big name compilations for music of this time period are the Stiff Records Box Set, Hyped2Death's Messthetics DIY comps and Rhino's Postpunk Chronicles/Left of the Dial series, but here are some worthy supplements to the cause, both of them imports from across the pond: D-I-Y: DO IT YOURSELF (Soul Jazz Records) and A PUNK + NEW WAVE EXPLOSION! (Spectrum).

D-I-Y: DO IT YOURSELF (Soul Jazz Records)

This great compilation from the fine-taste arbiters at Soul Jazz Records takes a look at "the rise of independent music industry after punk" in the UK. Its 22 tracks span the years 1977 to 1986, and while a few are obvious or familiar names (Buzzcocks, Scritti Politti , Swell Maps, Throbbing Gristle, Thomas Leer) the rest are complete unknowns to me - but pleasant discoveries. And it really is a mixed bag, from primal low-tech punk doodlings to to experimental synth noodlings, with funk, dub, electronica and synth-pop to boot.

The Buzzcocks' anthemic "Boredom" is the perfect lead-off track, since it served as the First Gen DIY's clarion call when it first appeared on their 1977 Spiral Scratch EP. As Howard Devoto spat out the lyrics about being "in a movie that doesn't move me," Pete Shelley played punk's most famous two-note guitar solo as if to reenforce the "why bother?" attitude of Devoto's disposable ennui. 30 years on have not dulled this song's brilliance, ba-dum ba-dum.

Speaking of minimalist, even better is the follow-up track "Aint You" by Kleenex, Switzerland's first all-girl punk group. Along with England's Slits and Raincoats, these art school babes from Zurich were one of the first three all-gal bands of the punk era when they formed in 1978 and the first Swiss punk export when this song from their 4-track EP made its way to London to be played on John Peel's radio show. They subsequently had to change their name to LiliPUT in 1980 when Kimberly Clark, the company that owned the copyright to the tissue brandname had their lawyers ask the girls "Aint you wanna cut it out?" to which they reluctantly answered in the affirmative. As SF Weekly critic Lawrence Kay succintly described Kleenex's sound, "Music like this doesn't have to be pretty or nice; it just has to make the plaster rattle before the walls cave in." Done and done.

Kleenex: Tissues became issues

After that it's all virgin territory to my ears. Even though I had one single by Swell Maps and had heard material from krautrocker Thomas Leer and Throbbing Gristle, I know not from these songs and most of the bands.

Kleenex is followed by two post-punk Scottish bands, A.P.B (for All Points Bulletin?) doing a funky little instrumental called "All Your Life with Me," followed by Edinburgh's Fire Engines performing the jaggly guitar-driven "Everything's Roses." According to Wikipedia, the Fire Engines released a limited edition split single with fellow Scots Franz Ferdinand in 2004, with each band covering a song by the other.

Naffi's "Slice 1" is a not-unenjoyable 4 minutes and 18 seconds of fret noodling, while Swell Maps' "Let's Build a Car" is, well, swell.

I found Patrik Fitzgerald's "Babysitter" highly amusing ("At least she don't molest your baby"), his Cockney accent and subject matter reminding me of Manchester's punk poet laureate John Cooper Clarke. Apparently he once auditioned alongside Mick Jones and Tony James for the band London SS and toured with The Jam, but his best known work remains the Safety-Pin Stuck in My Heart EP, which he subtitled "a love song for punk music."

Artery's "The Slide" is all go-nowhere tribal percussion backing Cockney chanting about things like "I don't want a wife! I don't want a wife! I don't want a wife!". All fine and well, if not exactly breathtaking. This would play well at Baltimore's High Zero experimental music festival.

Blurt's "The Fish Needs a Bike" sets aggressivley screeching guitars against squawking saxophones in a high-tension affair straight out of the Gang of Four playbook while a Teuton-toned vocalist dementedly repeats "Da feesh need a bike, da feesh need a bike" over and over. Crazy man! According to Wikipedia, Blurt is the brainchild of Gloucester, England's triple threat (poet, saxophonist, puppeteer) Ted Milton. Wikipedia adds, "Blurt's compositions are based around repetitive minimalistic guitar and/or saxophone phrases with relentless, machine-like drum beats, over which Ted Milton orates his lyrics in a variety of 'voices'." It works for me.

The Glaxo Babies' "Shake the Foundations" is pure dance music, bordering on disco, while The Flys' "Love and a Molotov Cocktail" is more grounded to punk rock simplicity, its dogmatically chanted chorus sounding very much like early Clash.

Russ McDonald's "Looking from the Cooking Pot" is downright wiggy, all beeps and blips and odd percolating noises from a sonic stew at full kettle. Who is this guy?

On more familiar ground, the Leeds-based Scritti Politti's debut single "Skank Bloc Bolgna" (1978) is all hair-raisingly tense guitars and socio-politico warblings from lead deconstructionist Green Gartside. In other words, it's ab fab, and on the strength of this DIY effort - and some helpful airplay on John Peel's radio show - the band got signed to Geoff Travis' Rough Trade label in 1979.

Next up is Windows (doesn't Bill Gates own this word in every conext by now?) performing the dubby, effects-laden "Creation Rebel." I know nada about Windows, but the song is nice background music. Likewise I'm clueless about the girls in Icon A.D., but their "Fight for Peace" is a catchy little rocker. According to the only blurb I could find about them on the Interpunk web page (www.interpunk.com), Icon A.D. was "formed in Leeds in 1978 by four school friends aged 16 to 18, all with no musical ability whatsoever but plenty of attitude" who "noticed an advert from Crass who were planning to release an album of ‘unknowns’. They submitted a rehearsal tape and the track ‘Cancer’ was included on the first ‘Bullshit Detector’ on the Crass label." A John Peel session soon followed and, well, stop me if you've heard this one before.

Then things start to get synthed out and icy-cold, beginning with German electronic futurist Thomas Leer on "Tight As a Drum." Genesis P. Orridge's Throbbing Gristle continues the electronic drift with the beautiful "Distant Dreams (Part Two)."

Then it's back to guitars with The Last Gang's single "Spirit of Youth," in which the vocalist sings about love, love, love and hate, hate, hate and wonders "Is there more than this?" (But didn't Byran Ferry already ask if there was "More Than This"?) The avant-garde explorations continue with Biting Tongues' "You Can Choke Like This," in which a steady drumbeat anchors free-form jazz solos from wailing saxes and scratchy guitars.

Tom Lucy does a spot-on Iggy Pop (circa mid-80s) trying to be provocatively outrageous while picking on the "stupid French boys" of "Paris, France." According to Bridge House Records, "Tom Lucy is currently a top stunt arranger for many top films and TV shows and has worked as a stunt double for stars such as Sean Connery. Tom is also first cousin to Darren, the bass player with Wasted Youth and this is the secret behind this release." Apparently, Wasted Youth were blacklisted from radio play (execpt for John Peel, of course!) because of their name. "To see if this theory was true it was decided to put the single out under the name of Tom Lucy because as well as being Darren's cousin he was in the studio every day with the band and contributed to the recording and production of the single. When this single got almost daily radio play it seemed the fears were proved correct. Although pressure was applied on the band by music industry bigwigs to change their name and style but they would not sell out."

And finally Red Lorry Yellow Lorry close the disc with some dour instro funk (think Joy Division transitioning into New Order).

Here's D-I-Y's full track listing.

1 The Buzzcocks - Boredom
2 Kleenex - Ain't You
3 A.P.B. - All Your Life With Me
4 Fire Engines - Everything's Roses
5 The Naffis - Slice 1
6 Swell Maps - Let's Build A Car
7 Patrick Fitzgerald - Babysitter
8 Artery - The Slide
9 Blurt - The Fish Needs A Bike
10 Glaxo Babies - Shake The Foundations
11 The Flys - Love And A Molotov Cocktail
12 Russ McDonald - Looking From The Cooking Pot
13 Scritti Politti - Skank Bloc Bologna
14 Windows - Creation Rebel
15 Icon A.D. - Fight For Peace
16 Thomas Leer - Tight As A Drum
17 The Frantic Elevators - Every Day I Die
18 Throbbing Gristle - Distant Dreams (Part Two)
19 The Last Gang - Spirit Of Youth
20 Biting Tongues - You Can Choke Like That
21 Tom Lucy - Paris, France
22 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - Paint Your Wagon

A PUNK + NEW WAVE EXPLOSION (Spectrum)

More to my liking is this import compilation that contains simple (mostly) three-minute pop songs - no dubs, no jams, no electronica. I picked up a used copy at Record & Tape Traders mainly for two songs: "Back of My Hand" by The Jags and "Don't Care" by Klark Kent, alias Stewart Copeland of The Police (my all-time favorite drummer, after Baltimore's own Skizz Cyzyk, of course - who is also my favorite fake lefty guitarist). I already had the Jags single and the Klark Kent EP on vinyl, but good luck trying to find these rarities on CD - except on something like this import compilation!

The Jags were a typically mumbly-mouthed Scots band whose powerpoppy "Back of My Hand" was one of the highlights of my "Telephone Songs" mix tape (I used to make lists like these back in the day; other comps included "Girl's Name Songs," "Car Songs," "Train Songs" and so on - I obviously had a LOT of time on my hands! And yes, I totally identified with Nick Hornsby's Hi-Fidelity audiophile). Unfortunately, listening to this song was like watching Trainspotting - I couldn't make out much beyond the chorus of "I got your number written on the back of my hand." I think the singer says something like "I'm not a fuck machine" (if so, I love that line!) but it might just as well be "I know just what you mean" and I think he says something about "dry your eyes" but the broque is so thick it sounds like "dry yer ass" (which gives the song a whole new slant - does the singer have the girl's No. 2 written on the back of his hand?). The track included here is the original single version; apparently a remix version appears on the Best of the Jags CD (God, I hate when they do that - it's like Gerry Todd Remix Overkill Syndrome; you should always put the original versions people first heard when reissuing records - don't get me started on the Richard Hell & The Voidoids Blank Generation CD that subsitutes an alternate version of "Rock and Roll Club" much to my vexation!). Anyway, here's a YouTube clip of the Jags performing "Back of My Hand"; see if you can phonetically decipher it.

Klark Kent's 1978 single "Don't Care" is a great little pop tune with Stewart Copeland's characteristic humorous lyrics ("If you don't like my haircuts, you can SUCK MY SOCKS!"); Sting would cringe at the words, but let's face it, Stu added whatever sense of humor there was to the early Police records (a la "Be My Girl - Sally"). Thank God for good old American pluck! Copeland played all the instruments on the 1980 Klark Kent EP (which was really more like a mini-LP with 8 songs clocking in at almost 25 minutes and was pressed on Kryptonite-green vinyl!), but put together a DEVO-esque masked band for TV appearances, as illustrated in this YouTube clip for "Don't Care."

A very pleasant surprise was hearing Ultravox!'s 1977 single "Young Savage," which would later turn up on their 2nd LP Ha!-Ha!-Ha!. Was anyone a cooler frontman/wordsmith than John Foxx with his rapid-fire delivery and voluminous lyricism that seemed to be equal parts Dylan, Burroughs and J. G. Ballard? From the kick-start opening salvo "The Jekyll-Hyde of you/I can't survive the tide of you" to lines like "Money rents you insulation/Tenderness, asphyxiation," I have no idea what he's talking about, but it sounds so damned good I'm ready to sing his accolades as a post-modern poet of the highest order.

I also liked the way this collection placed two songs about time back to back (synchronicity!), namely the Boomtown Rats' "Like Clockwork" and Joe Jackson's "Got the Time." Listening to the Rats reminded me not only of how effortlessly poppy they were but also of how irritating Sir Bob's voice was (not that my opinion counts for much - after all, he got knighthood/sainthood for his Live Aid work and also got to shag uber-babes like the late Paula Yates). And the superb "Got the Time" reminded me that, before he chucked the killer guitar riffs to become The Piano Man, Joe Jackson and his band - whom I had the pleasure to catch performing at their height in 1980 at Towson State University (perhaps you've heard of it?) - totally rocked. The heavy metal band Anthrax obviously agreed with me, as they covered this song in 1990. Mental note: Pick up the first Joe Jackson album Look Sharp! (1979).

Other highlights include the modish Chords out-Jamming The Jam on "Maybe Tomorrow," Squeeze's first single "Take Me I'm Yours," and Julian Cope's neo-psychedelic The Teardrop Explodes performing "Reward." I remember the Teardrop Explodes being a big deal in the early '80s, with the Liverpudlians even making a pitstop at Baltimore's Marble Bar on March 15, 1981.

The Passions' "I'm In Love with a German Film Star" is a gem, of course, but it already appeared on Rhino's 1998 Postpunk Chronicles: Left of the Dial CD with a better (and louder) mix. I first discovered this song when it was used as the soundtrack of John "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" Heyn's Girls on Film, a short film celebrating the anonymous women who appeared on film countdown reels.

You also get The Slits sounding ultra-cool dabbling with dub and ska on "Typical Girls," Adam & The Ants playing "I see London, I see France" on the amusing "Young Parisians" and Manchester's Slaughter & The Dogs with a typically working-class-punk assault on "Where have All the Bootboys Gone," which could just as easily be a soccer singalong.

There are also two tracks each from The Jam (the excellent "In the City" and "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight"), the progressive-era Damned ("Grimly Fiendish" and "Eloise", from when they added keyboards and high-production values in the mid-'80s; "Eloise" was a cover of Barry Ryan's 1968 #2 hit and when The Damned released their version in 1986, it became their biggest chart success ever, reaching #3 on the UK charts) and, Eddie & The Hot Rods ("Teenage Depression" and "Do Anything You Wanna Do," the latter's chord progressions sounding strikingly like The Records' "Starry Eyes" - no wonder it was their greatest chart success, climbing to #9 on the UK charts in 1977) - though I never understood why these pub rockers were so big; I remember they played the Marble Bar and local bands thought it was a big deal to open for them because they were from the UK and (erroneously) associated with the punk rock scene. Still, "Do Anything You Wanna Do" was a pretty nice tune and probably the best thing they ever did; watch them do the "Do" as "The Rods" on Marc Bolan's Marc Show and see what you think.

Here's the full track listing:

1. In The City - Jam
2. Teenage Depression - Eddie & The Hot Rods
3. Young Savage - Ultravox
4. Like Clockwork - Boomtown Rats
5. Got The Time - Joe Jackson
6. Typical Girls - Slits
7. Young Parisians - Adam & The Ants
8. Grimly Fiendish - Damned
9. Back Of My Hand - Jags
10. Where Have All The Bootboys Gone - Slaughter & The Dogs
11. Don't Care - Klark Kent
12. Maybe Tomorrow - Chords
13. Reward - Teardrop Explodes
14. I'm In Love With A German Film Star - Passions
15. Down In The Tube Station At Midnight - Jam
16. Take Me I'm Yours - Squeeze
17. Do Anything You Wanna Do - Eddie & The Hot Rods
18. Eloise - Damned

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Reversal of Fortune

OR: WTF???

Getafe 1, Real Madrid 0
February 24, 2008

Thanks to my new favorite soccer blog, The Offside (www.theoffside.com), for this amazing post, "Check With the Linesman Before You Celebrate" about Real Madrid's incredible reversal of fortune from a disallowed goal & oblivious goal celebration to getting humiliated by their opponents' quick counter-attacking goal at the other end that decided the game 27 seconds later, 1-0. How ever will La Liga leaders Real Madrid live this down - especially coming on the heels of Barcelona's 5-1 thrashing of Levante to narrow their league lead to 2 points?

From www.theoffside.com:

Not a good day for Real Madrid, but at least the club managed to match Barcelona’s claim on most original goal celebration of the weekend. I’ve never seen anything like this before. Here’s what happened:

Raul squares to Arjen Robben, Arjen Robben sidefoots it home. Real Madrid celebrate. But they don’t notice the linesman’s flag signalling Raul was offside. So while Madrid’s players congratulate each other, Getafe take the ball up the other end, outnumber the handful of Madrid players who were actually paying attention, and Ikechukwu Uche scores. 1-0 to Getafe and that’s how it stayed.

The whole thing is perfectly captured by the close up on Arjen Robben’s face. First he’s running around celebrating and his expression says “Joy! I’ve scored,” then a few moments later he’s rooted to the spot and his expression says “Wait…. what???”

If you squint hard enough you can also see that the gameclock reads 17:59 (in the second half) when Robben puts the ball in the net and thinks it’s 1-0 to Madrid. By 18:26, it’s 1-0 to Getafe. From one up to one down in 27 seconds.

By the way, the Barcelona goal celebration referenced above involved Barca striker Samuel Eto'o, after scoring a hat trick in the 5-1 win, borrowing a photographer's camera and taking a snapshot of his teammates. Now that's a photo finish!

Cry-baby

Brian Billick: Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered

I read the article in the Baltimore Sun today about Brian Billick, who whined that Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti never told him why he was fired. As one Sun reporter put it: "Did he really have to?"

I have your answer right here, Brian:

5-11.

That was your regular season record in 2007. With a franchise record nine consecutive losses. With two losses to the "powerhouse" Browns and Bengals. And that howler in Pittsburgh that's sure to be a big hit on the next edition of "NFL Follies."

'Nuff said?

So man up and stop being a cry-baby - I'm sure you'll get over the hurt of having to sit on the couch this year while collecting 5 million dollars for not coaching the Ravens. Sure, you were 13-3 the year before. But the year before you were 6-10 and ever since you've been here as a purported offensive genius you've had an offense whose point totals looked like soccer scores, surely one of the most boring and unimaginative offenses in the history of the NFL. Elvis (Grbc) has left the building. Like Trent Dilfer. And Kyle Boller. And, soon (hopefully) Steve McNair. None could make the Offensive Wizard's turgid gameplan's go.

So keep yourself busy with pep talks to the troops in Iraq and maybe you could use your experiences with the Baltimore Sun (who had the audacity to print your win-loss record) to give seminars on media relations.

Are we done here, Brian?

Let It Snow?

This snow fall is Gorgeous, BUT! We are all tired of driving in the mess it leaves on the roads. Perhaps it could snow only on the grassy areas. That would be nice. I like how our neighbors in the Southern States take it easy when they have bad winter weather. I feel they are pretty smart to take this time to romp in the white stuff or snuggle together next to a fire instead of driving thru it to work. Ok, Maybe I am dreaming a bit? Do you remember the snow days of our youth? That wonderful feeling when you did not have to go to school? And everyone was out playing in it? I remember one in particular... my Dad and many of the other fathers in the neighborhood went around shoveling out each of their driveways together. I must say that this household as well as several of our neighbors have helped shovel, yes shovel, drives and walks. Then there is the snow blower, we all like helping out with that wonderful invention also.

Yes, it is beautiful. It also provides much needed moisture for the spring and summer as snow all over our nation will finally start to drip, drip and trickle into the creeks and river beds. Bright green grass and buds of spring bulbs start to peek out from the ground, giving us hope again.

Let It Snow?

Monday, February 25, 2008

Dr. Gonad

The Porn Star Who Denied Christ

Paul Thomas denied knowing a Jewish carpenter from Bethlehem

I learn something everytime I browse the racks at Daedalus Books at Belvedere Square. The last time I stopped in, I heard a jazz CD playing that turned out to be the source soundtrack for Cialus' time-released schwing! ED commercials (it's guitarist Herb Ellis playing his version of "Sweet Georgia Brown"). And this weekend I made another discovery, thanks to a cursory browse through Granta magazine there.

Atom Egoyan, my favorite Armenian-Canadian director (The Sweet Hereafter, Exotica, Ararat), had an article called "Dr. Gonad" in which he discussed the film he yearned to make about Paul Thomas, an actor in over 300 films and a director of an additional 208 films, according to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). So what, you say? Well, as any viewer of '70s and '80s porn knows, Paul Thomas is the name of a very prolific pornstar and, later, award-winning adult film director (in fact, Mr. Thomas won the last four AVN Awards for Best Director between 2004-2007). But Atom Egoyan clued me into the fact that under his alternate stage name of Philip Toubus, Paul Thomas played Peter, denyer of Christ, in Norman Jewison's Jesus Christ Superstar (1973).

I can't tell you how excited I get when I discover mainstream films starring adult film stars.

Anyway, here's Egoyan's article from Granta 86:

Dr Gonad
by Atom Egoyan

The director, Atom Egoyan, reflects on the film he yearns to make, but knows he never will.

Few careers fascinate me more than that of Paul Thomas. According to the International Movie Database (IMDb), Mr Thomas has acted in almost 300 films, and must hold a record for directorial credits (208).

His extraordinarily prolific career seems to have tapered off in the last year, with his last credit as director being WMB: Weapons of Masturbation in 2003. As an actor, Mr Thomas will have a hard time matching the thirty credits he scored in 1981, including Swedish Erotica 1–4, 8, 11, 13–14, 17–18, 22, 25, 28–29, and 40–41. The IMDb states that Mr Thomas is sometimes credited as Judy Blue, Toby Philips, Tory Philips, Toby Phillips, Philip Tobias and Phil Tobus, amongst several other incarnations. Given the invariable spelling errors that must occur on certain pornographic titles (when one produces over forty volumes of Swedish Erotica in a single year, mistakes are bound to be made), most of these monikers seem to be some sort of variation of Paul Thomas's birth name: Philip Toubus.

It is under this name, Philip Toubus, that I first came into contact with this talented individual. He was one of the principal actors in Norman Jewison's Jesus Christ Superstar. Mr Toubus—who has a distinctive singing voice—played the part of Peter. Watching this film when it was released in 1973 changed my life. I had sung hymns every morning at school, and endured compulsory Bible readings, but the religious imagery meant little to me until I saw this magnificently entertaining movie. I can still remember every word of Tim Rice's witty libretto.

I particularly remember Mr Toubus/Thomas as he denied Christ three times. His look of increasing bewilderment as he fulfils Christ's prophecy struck me as something close to sublime. Years later, I would witness this same face (though decidedly less bewildered) in such films as Dr Gonad's Sex Tails, Dracula Sucks, Nasty Nurses and, of course, his crowning porn achievement, Best of Caught from Behind 2. Though Mr Thomas would go on to perform in This Stud's for You, Cumshot Revue and Naughty Cheerleaders, nothing would erase the pleasure of the young actor, in his first screen credit, denying Jesus Christ.

What went so horribly wrong (or so spectacularly right) in Mr Toubus's career? A pathologically cynical agent? A simple and almost plaintively earnest desire to stretch his wings? I have always thought that Mr Toubus would be an ideal subject for a documentary—a documentary I will never make.

I will never make this documentary because I have constructed a perfectly structured framing device for this film, and it would crush me if Mr Toubus would not conform to it. In my fantasy of our imaginary interview, Mr Toubus would deny me. First, he would deny me three times and then, by the end of the interview, he would have denied me more times than there are episodes of Swedish Erotica (sixty). I would intercut his denials with images from his porn career and cutaways from his denials in Jesus Christ Superstar. The big problem with this approach is that I have no idea what Mr Toubus could possibly deny. He certainly couldn't deny his participation in the porn. He might deny that this was a lamentable choice. But even if he were to deny this (and there's a very good chance Mr Toubus is perfectly pleased with his decisions), this would only account for one niggling denial. Certainly not enough for a movie.

So this potentially fascinating film will never be made.

As an aside, our careers almost collided at the Adult Video News Awards, a splashy event held every year to honour the best in porn. In 1997, Mr Thomas won Best Director for his work on Bobby Sox. A year earlier, my film Exotica had won for Best Alternative Adult Film (difficult to believe, but it's also there on the IMDb record under 'Awards & Nominations'). I entertain the fantasy that Mr Thomas was on the nominating committee that selected my film.

Needless to say, Mr Toubus would deny this.

Trivia: In the film noir classic Tension (1949), "Paul Thomas" is one of the names Warren Quimby (Richard Baseheart) considers adopting when creating his new identity.

Related Links:
Paul Thomas (Wikipedia)

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Let♥s get Green and Help Save the Earth!

Hello, everybody! For this term we are going to participate in a little project to help save the earth. Want to be part of it?... Well, first let's find out how you are contributing to destroy the earth... yeah, destroy the earth... that planet where we all live... yes.... that one!!!

Take the ECP Carbon & Lifestyle Calculator test and register to EarthLab. This is a site with lot of interesting tips on how we can contribute to save our beautiful planet.

This test allow you to know how much carbon dioxide you are producing with your lifestyle. Also, you can save your results and track your improvements. Pledge to take action and reduce your score. In other words, you can create your private and personal plan to contribute to save the earth.

Take the First Step!
Get Your Score, and Start
Making a Difference Today!

As part of this little project, we will be discussing and learning new vocabulary related to climate change, and global warming. A good starter will be visiting some of the following sites to read and learn more about this interesting and important issue in our lives.

Some signs of climate change in our country:
In Venezuela according to Climate Hot Map.org , of six glaciers in the Venezuelan Andes in 1972, only 2 remain, and scientists predict that these will be gone within the next 10 years. In December 1999. The heaviest rainfall in 100 years caused massive landslides and flooding that killed approximately 30,000 people. Total December rainfall in Maiquetia, near Caracas, was almost 4 feet (1.2 m), more than 5 times the previous December record. The high death toll was attributed to population growth in vulnerable areas and forest clearing on steep hill slopes.

Friday, February 22, 2008

A Blog about Soccer Blogs & Blowhards

THE SUN FINALLY SHINES ON THE WORLD'S GAME

I recently discoverd that the Baltimore Sun has a soccer blog by Wes Harvey (pictured left). It's called Alive and Kicking and it's not bad. Now if only the Sun would deign to cover soccer not just online but in print - and I'm talking about real soccer/football here - not that gimmicky indoor soccer nonsense the Blast play (indoor soccer was invented to make the beautiful game palatable for Americans by trading in everything that makes the game great - creating space, using tactics like overlapping runs and free/corner kicks, running great lengths for long periods that test an athelete's stamina, skillful passing and trapping - all for the score sheet's bottom line of goals.) Hey, here's a thought...maybe the Sun could arrest their sagging sales (though the hike from 50 to 75 cents a paper didn't help) by covering a sport Baltimore's ever-growing Hispanic populace might read about. Apparently Lamont "Wes" Harvey is a Sun graphic designer who just happens to know about soccer (God forbid the Sun should hire a full-time soccer reporter like the Washington Post). But I'm pulling for Wes to get a regular print byline sometime soon.

And now on to a discussion of blowhards (both good and bad), namely the soccer announcers on Fox Soccer Channel and GOL TV.

MAXED OUT

Over at Fox Soccer Channel, things are starting to get really bad. My pet peeves? First off, they've started adding annoying pop-ups and text scrolls hyping new shows during match broadcasts. But it gets worse. Namely, for some reason Max Bretos seems to be incredibly popular at the channel (he's getting more and more hosting assignments), even though this megalomaniac is guilty of blatant "homerism" anytime the USA plays a match and comes off as a complete idiot if you bother to listen to what he's actually saying. And he's a complete Company Man at Fox, where he can regularly be seen shilling for Fox Soccer Channel anniversary specials and the like.

Formerly banished to covering South America's inferior domestic leagues (there's a good reason why the European soccer leagues are bursting at the seams with Brazilian and Argentine players - they all left the bush leagues to play in the Big Show), he once hosted the Argentina League show, which was the most bizarre of all the international soccer roundup shows on Fox; it was unlike any other highlights review program and was totally devoid of play-by-play professionalism as lazy boy Max used the highlight reels to make groan-inducing quips and wince-worthy puns, often bordering on racism (like the time he commented on an Argentine striker's goal by saying, in Frito Bandito voice, "I haff somedink for yooooo!")

Worse still is his tendency to accentuate rolled R's whenever he enunciates Spanish words, trying to come off as a master linquist like those annoyingly overeducated National Public Radio types who make a big show of properly accenting "Nica-ragua"). A total know-nothing who has trouble walking by a mirror without stopping. But for some reason, boorish Bretos is in favor at Fox now; having served his time in the soccer bush leagues, the FSC brass have brought him home to roost.

Mitigating Max Factor: Max sometimes calls games with former player Chris Sullivan who, though not as foppishly articulate as the superslick Maxster, actually knows the game and makes intelligent points. Bad hair, though.

For more Max-basing, check out this rant from the MLS Underground blog.

MORE FOX VOX KNOCKS

And speaking of over-confident Fox Soccer Channel gits in love with themselves, equally annoying is Scottish mumblecore blowhard Bobby McMahon. When you can understand his Willie the Groundskeeper broque at all, the FSC analyst is prone to such smug inanities as "Eef yee lookit duh Spunish Preemeer leek dis year, its hyard to oonerstan jus whyee Reel Madreet are tup oof da taybor; Aym jus waytin fur dem tee bee shoon up!" Um, maybe they're top of the table Bobby because they're the class of the division and one of the most exciting and star-studded teams in the world. And who exactly is going to "find Real Madrid out"? Barcelona sucks this year and relies too much on Lionel Messi to save them while Ronaldinho recovers from injury/burnout and Thierry Henry is still trying to find his place in the flow of the team. My God, Real puts up 7-0 thrashings of opponents while Barca continues to have listless 0-0 draws with nobodies (goal scoring has been a real problem for them - and with that payroll I'd be expecting LOTS of goals!) and Villencia, Sevilla and even the Villareal's Yellow Submarine have pulled disappearing acts that have seen the drop from serious contention (unlike last year when La Liga was the most exciting - and hotly contested, the title coming down to the final weekend - league in the world).

LOST IN TRANSLATION/FOUND IN ITERATION

Meanwhile, over at GOL TV, I can only listen to games (re)announced by the winning team of play-by-play straight man Phil Schoen and the insanely colorful color man Ray Hudson. (GOL TV originates in Florida, where for the most part they dub commentary over taped games from Europe - especially Spain's Primera Division (La Liga) - and South America.)

Some people hate Ray Hudson, but I love him. My girlfriend doesn't care much for soccer (or The Three Stooges, but that's a different matter!), but whenever she hears Ray Hudson's voice she starts laughing ("It's that crazy guy again!") and stops to watch. Ray Hudson, thank you; you made a non-believer believe!

Sure, he's often (most often, I'd say) full of hyperbole and enough hot air to fill a Bio-dome, but no one's as passionate or prosaic as this lone poet of football commentary. His stock adjectives are "heavenly" ("That was a heavenly ball, Phil!"), "magical" ("Messi's goal was magical, Phil!"), and "warrior" ("Ah, Phil, these Galacticos are warriors, man!") and anytime a striker gets a ball in the box he'll scream "He's in, Phil, he's in!!!"

And his love or certain marquee players- especially Brazilians like Ronaldinho ("Ronny") and "Little" Robinho and Argentines like "Little Lionel" Messi and Juan Roman Riquelme - is so obvious you wonder if he dreams of spending time with them in a public bath house.

Ray's cult is so pervasive that there's even a new blog dedicated to his amusing utterances, Hudsonia: The Wisdom of Ray Hudson. The blog's mission statement says it all:

Ray Hudson is a football/soccer commentator for GolTV with a unique ability to coin phrases that defy both logic and belief. This blog is inspired by the awesome enthusiasm he brings to the game and his quest to 'invent a new language in English'.

In addition to transcribing Ray's words from each week's La Liga game, Hudsonia also features audio clips of the mouth that roared. I came across this site thanks to another blog, Who Ate All the Pies. Poster Ollie Irish had perhaps the best-ever oxymoronic description of Hudson's humorous hubris when he called it "brilliant nonsense." Here's his full description:

Hudsonia is a newish blog dedicated to the wit and wisdom (more of the former and not a lot of the latter, to be honest) of Ray Hudson, cult co-commentator for GolTV. We've featured Ray a couple of times on Pies and it's no surprise that he now has his own dedicated forum. Here's a wonderful Hudson stream-of-consciousness pearl (a HudsonBall?) to tempt you over to Hudsonia:

'Said keep your eye on him, I've always loved him, man, as a player. Said, such a bread-and-butter man but what a warrior. The ball gets fed back to him, and it's a gangster goal. And here Poulsen is Al Capone. It's a great, rifled machine gun hit ...'

Nonsense, but what brilliant nonsense.

Hudson is a former player and MLS coach but his greatest achievement is that big motoring mouth of his. When he took over at D.C. United in 2002, he explained his excitable loqaciousness thusly to the Washington Post: "It's in me blood. I have very deep passions for this game and for my players. I'll let the whole world know how I feel, no holding back."

Hence he is wont to describe a goal celebration as "Robinho had an orgasm after that goal!" and throw out other bon mots such as:

"I'm higher than a hippie at Woodstock"

"He's as competitive as a hungry tiger, yet he's got the sensibility of a village priest."

"He looked like Sophia Loren walking up a flight of stairs - absolutely beautiful."

"They've just cut their own throats today and Real Madrid are just playing in their blood."

"You can hear a drop of salsa hitting a chimichanga in that Valladolid locker-room."

"Brilliant run. Timing to perfection. Swivels his hips like Marilyn Monroe as he puts it in..."

"Thierry's off to the races and that is time-warp pace. He actually folds space, Einstein-like, Thierry. And he doesn't miss these ones. And he says 'I'll buy you my dance tonight, my son.'"

"Plays it in front of him, and Bojan could put that away balancing a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale on his head..."

"They've got more crazy rules than Blockbuster video these referees with the offside rule these days, Phil."

"There’s more flair in this team, in this club, than a nineteen-seventies high-school reunion."

"This is a cabaret goal, again. And he’s Liza Minnelli."

"Look at that! He's a defender but he's like a fish up a tree with that finish!"

"The ball’s trapped in between Raúl’s legs. Keita doesn’t matter what ball he kicks, he’s gonna get something."

"It doesn't matter if it hits him in the face, you've got to forget that, Phil. It's Hilbert, he's not a good-looking lad in the first place..."

Want to hear Ray? Just check out YouTube. Be forewarned, he has a thick Geordie accent, but it's been watered-down somewhat by his time Stateside. Here's a sample clip called Ray Hudson - Greatest Soccer Commentator Ever

THE BUS STOPS HERE

Compare him to that Hispanic guy on GOL TV (Rafa something - Unsein?) who is the worst color commentator in world soccer. I wish I knew his name. He covers some games with Phil Schoen and while I know it's tough for a native Spanish speaker to sound eloquent when English isn’t your first language, it doesn't excuse the fact that he's slow, inarticulate, uninformative and often silent (someone should remind him that he's getting paid to comment on, not just watch, the games) and quite often stops and sputters like a broke-down bus.

"And...it's...a...goal...by Riquelme...it...is...quite a...good goal..."

Not exactly Sparkle Plenty or Mr. Excitement.

Oh, the horror. GOL TV, do yourself a favor and get him off the air!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

My Body: An Annual Report

At the start of the new year, I received a document from my healthcare provider detailing every medical claim I reported in 2007. They said it was some regulatory requirement. Whatever. As I scanned the list, I counted 23 ailments that sent me to a doctor's office last year - that's almost a trip every two weeks! For convenience's sake, I put together the following illustrated guide to my various maladies.

Tom Warner: The Year in Review

What a drag it is growing old.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Lunar Eclipse tonight! We have an appoinmet at 10:31

Tonight at 10:31, we Marabinos will be able to look at the sky and be witnesses to one of the most beautiful nature phenomenon ... a lunar eclipse.

According to Wikipedia...
A lunar eclipse occurs whenever the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth's shadow. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, the Moon is always full near a lunar eclipse. The type and length of an eclipse depend upon the Moon's location relative to its orbital nodes. The most recent total lunar eclipse was on 28 August 2007^[1] where the sun, earth and moon were in total alignment. The initial stage started at 07:52 UTC, while the total eclipse began at 09:52 UTC giving it a bronze appearance, with reddish to blood red at its peak. Eastern Australia and New Zealand were in the perfect zone to view the total lunar eclipse or "blood moon"

According to La Verdad .... In Venezuela our eclipse will start at 8:04 pm and finally its reddish to blood look at 10:31.

Then later at 10:30 the moom is going to reflect the rainbow colors in its surface, specially the red-orange. At 10:56, it would be the reddest i can be and at 11.21, it'll start the final phase of the eclipse that will end at 12:38. This eclipse is going to be observed all around the American continent.

This is a nice video about lunar eclipses I found in Dalilymotion...

Eclipse II
Uploaded by _Lobo

Well, tonight we have our appointment... don't forget... and get ready your cameras...

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Conversational Tips! Saying 'No' Nicely

Conversational Tips!

These are some tips I got from a great EFL site called About.com "Sometimes you need to say no when someone makes a suggestion, offers something or asks you to do something for them. Of course, saying just 'no' can be rather rude. Here are some of the most common ways to say 'no' nicely - or at least not rudely."

* Would you like to see a film tonight?
I'm afraid I can't go out tonight. I've got a test tomorrow.
* Why don't we have some Chinese food?
Sorry, but I don't particularly like Chinese food.
* How about taking a nice walk?
I'd really rather not take a walk this afternoon.
* Would you like to come to the museum with us?
Thank you, but it's not my idea of a fun afternoon out.
* Let's go for a drive
Sorry, I'm not really fond of driving for the fun of it.
* Why don't you stay the night?
That's very kind of you, but I really have to get back to the city.

NOTE: Notice how we often say 'thank you' in some way before refusing the offer. When someone makes an offer it is polite to first thank that person and then say no, often offering an excuse for not wanting or being able to do something. Just saying 'no' is considered very rude behavior indeed!

For more on this and for a quiz, go to: http://esl.about.com/library/grammar/blgr_sayno.htm

Source: ABOUT.COM
Photo: by b_d_solis

Valentine Day at URBE

Last Wednesday, we celebrated Valentine Day in URBE. It was a bright, nice day, all over the campus you could feel it was a special day. We talked about it, and exercised it, too! As you can see in the scrapbook photos... it was a day full of love and friendship feelings.

Some people think, Valentine's Day is just another day to spend money.. maybe they are right, but maybe they are wrong... from what I know and saw that day at the university, I can declare that It is truly a special day, a day for hugs and good intentions as well as good wishes for everybody.. we should have more days like that!

Happy valentine to all that I couldn't hug that day... and from here a virtual hug to the world...

Monday, February 18, 2008

Look Out, Another Before Shot!

Back to some old tricks...
Avante

My husband and I wondered into the lighting department of a store that sells almost everything a family may need. Food, flowers, pharmacy, toys, shoes, clothes,sporting goods, fish, pet supplies, small household appliances... well, most likely you have all been to some version of these stores. This is what my husband found.

Guess how much! Nope, wrong, try again!
Five dollars! $5.00 plus tax!!! We actually needed a light for a powder room. My husband leaves no stone unturned! And he always has good results, even if he pays full price. He is an excellent researcher.

My Mom is here visiting! :) So I will not be posting much at all this week. My next post will show the results of the light.
Have a good week! We will! : )

Look Out, Another Before Shot!

Back to some old tricks...
Avante

PowerPoint Tips!

Source: By TechGuy
Designing Effective PowerPoint Presetations

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Introducing AuthorStream

Hello, There! Hope you are doing great! Well, This is to introduce a new tool that is going to help us upload our powerpoint presentations with audio and animations to internet. The good thing about this tool is that it is free and easy to use.

First, this is how you record your voice using PowerPoint:

Now, this is how you upload your voice presetation to internet and later pasted it to your blog:

This is an example of a powerpoint presentation by one of my students from level 1: Her name's Ruddy and this was her homework for unit 2 in her class.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Weekend Toon Up

AN ANIMATED WEEKEND AT THE MOVIES

Inspired by MICA's Suzan Pitt retrospective Thursday night, I spent all day Saturday watching animated films at area theatres.

DAY WATCH

First up was the the "The 2007 Academy Award Nominated Animated Short Films" program at the Landmark Theatre, where I saw all five short films nominated for Best Animated Short at the 2007 Academy Awards (a separate program addressed the live action short film nominees). One of those films was the amazing Madame Tutli-Putli, which I had seen previously and was sure would be the pick of the litter and a shoo-in for this year's Oscar. But after seeing the full line-up, I wasn't so sure. In other words, this is a great program of immensely talented animators, one in which everyone's a contender! In fact, I was so impressed by the impressionist watercolor technique employed in the Russian short My Love (Moya Lyubov) , I have to give it the Oscar nod (though I Am the Walrus was easily the most enjoyable short).

The 90-minute program was perfectly paced and included (in order of appearance):

MEME LES PIGEONS VONT AU PARADIS (EVEN PIGEONS GO TO HEAVEN)
(directed by Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse, France, 9 minutes, French w/ English subtitles, CGI)

A priest tries to sell an old man a machine that he promises will transport him to Paradise. This funny short was a great opener, managing to entertain while also showing the hypocrisy of Catholic theological excess in a way only Europeans raised under Church ideology can.

MEME LES PIGEONS VONT AY PARADIS Trailer

MEMES LES PIGEONS at Internet Movie Database

MY LOVE (MOYA LYUBOV)
(directed by Alexander Petrov, Russia, 27 minutes, Russian w/English subtitles)

Alexander Petrov has been nominated for four Oscars for Best Animated Short Film, winning previously for THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA (1999). Inspired by Ivan Turgenev's novella First Love, this long short set in 19th-century Russia tells the story of a teenage boy in search of love who is drawn to two very different women from two very different social classes. Da, da...typical Russian epic novel fare with a typically tragic Turgenev twist (readers of my Lazy Eye post take note - it involves strabismus!). But it's handled with great imagination and amazing technical skill - Petrov employs the time-consuming technique of painting pastel oils on glass, giving his film the look of one of Monet's impressionist paintings come to life. The effect is visual poetry at its finest.

MY LOVE - PART 1 (extract from You Tube)

MADAME TUTLI-PUTLI
(directed by Chris Lavin and Maciek Szczerbowski, Canada, 17 minutes, Claymation/CGI)
Official Madame Tutli-Putli Website

Jeepers, creepers, where'd you get those peepers?

A timid woman boards a mysterious night train and has a series of frightening experiences. That's the non-narrative plot of this stop-motion puppet animation film, but its real story lies in Madame Tutli-Putli's expressive eyes. Those emotive orbs were the creation of Jason Walker, who crafted a production process in which he seamlessly added live action human eyes to stop-motion animation. The process is explained in detail on Jason Walker's official web site (http://madametutliputli.com):

Jason developed a system of separating and analyzing the previously shot stop-motion puppet moves, choreographing, rehearsing and shooting a human actor's corresponding "eye performance" to match each puppet move, at the same time recreating as closely as possible all light and shadow passes original to the stop-motion. Once the human eyes were shot, each eye was individually positioned, scaled, re-timed and digitally composited onto the puppet scenes. As different actors were cast for almost all the characters, the requirement was not only to integrate the human eyes onto each puppet, but on a frame by frame basis, match the subtle movement of the puppets, the camera, and the train – all the while retaining the flow of the acting. "This required every trick in the book and more!" exclaims Mr. Walker. The creation of the film and this extraordinarily painstaking process took 4 years from concept to completion.

Beyond its technical aspects, the film is also a thought-provoking psychological exercise, for Mademe Tutli-Putli certainly carries more than just Samsonite luggage aboard the train. Like the characters in Suzan Pitt's Asparagus and Joy Street, the protagonist is clearly taking a trip to the center of her mind.

MADAME TUTLI-PUTLI Trailer

I MET THE WALRUS
(directed by Josh Raskin, Canada, 5 minutes, English, 2D Animation)
Official Web Site: www.imetthewalrus.com

Animators looking for ideas, take heart: this is a prime example of how to make something out of nothing. In 1969, 14-year-old Jerry Levitan (pictured left) snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto with his tape recorder and persuaded him to do an interview. This was during John and Yoko's "Bed-In" to promote world peace phase. Levitan got 5 minutes worth of conversation about various topics, including war and peace, music and, unfortunately, his dislike of George Harrison (what's his problem? George was my fave of the Fab Four!). It all wouldn't have amounted to much, except for Josh Raskin's imagination and skill as an animator and director 38 years later. He uses a stream-of-consciousness technique to illustrate basically every word that comes out of Lennon's mouth. More specifically, he employs James Braithwaite's pen sketches and Alex Kurina's digital illustrations to create what the film's official web site quite rightly calls "a spell-binding vessel for Lennon’s boundless wit, and timeless message." That message is illustrated below:

The look of the animation reminded me of both Terry Gilliam's Monty Python work (which of course harkens back to the cut-up collage techniques of Stan Vanderbeek) and Frank and Caroline Mouris' FRANK FILM (1973), especially in regards to the latter's pacing and thematic synching of images with narration.

Check out the trailer below:
"I Met the Walrus" trailer

PETER & THE WOLF
(directed by Suzie Templeton, UK & Poland, 27 minutes, stop-motion Claymation)
Official Web Site

The kids in the crowd loved this one the best, and why not? It's a familiar story to them, but this version of Prokofiev's classical music drama of a young boy and his animal friends who face a hungry wolf is told with a different slant. The director nixes all that "cry wolf" foreplay and gets right to the matter at hand, the action and Prokofiev's music propelling the narration-free story forward until it reaches a new, "re-imagined" non-violent ending. There are also ample bits of humor, thanks to Templeton's amusing animal models.

Suzie Templeton is best known for her award-winning film DOG (2002), which told the story of a boy coming to terms with the death of his mother. This film has won many prizes, including a British Animation Award and a BAFTA.

Watch Official Trailer

The short was also featured on PBS' GREAT PERFORMANCES. Check out the clip below to see director Suzie Templeton talking about the maing of her film:
The Making of PETER & THE WOLF

NIGHT WATCH

Then it was up to the Charles Theatre to finally catch Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis (2007, France/USA, 95 min), which I had been hearing about since my animator friend saw it at the Annecy Animation Festival in France. First-time director Marjane Satrapi did a marvelous job adapting her graphic novel of the same name to the big screen (after all, who else knows the material as well as its author?), and I like the way she used black-and-white to depict her life under an oppressive regime in Iran and color for her life in the West.

Satrapi's story of her coming-of-age, from a 9-year-old during Iran's Islamic Revolution, a teenager during the long war of attrition with Iraq and as a young woman eventually escaping to the West is both a history lesson and the story of one woman's independent spirit and quest for artistic and creative freedom. Particularly amusing is the appeal of "decadent" Western culture in the form of punk, ABBA, Iron Maiden and Michael Jackson for Satrapi while in her homeland, as contrasted with her contempt for its excesses in the West. For example, when she is Vienna hanging out a middle-class group of friends made up of mohawked nihilists and punk rock-listening anarchists, she can't figure out exactly what they're rebelling against, other than boredom. They seem to have it all too easy while in her country listening to something even as innocuous as the Bee Gees was enough to get one imprisoned.

As has been pointed out by other reviewers, the emotional highlight of Satrapi's film is the unironic use of Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" to represent her resolve to change her plight and strike out for personal and artistic freedom. Westerners may snicker at the cheesiness of the song's sentiments, but irony is a luxury for oppressed people whose main concern is survival.

It would be easy after watching Persepolis to smugly assume that the West has religious freedom and that that Iran's religious regime is an all-too-obvious form of fascism. But religious fanaticism of all every stripe came off pretty poorly in the films I saw today, from the mean-spirited imans and nuns in Persepolis to the conniving priest in the animated short Meme les Pigeons vont au Paridis (Even Pigeons Go To Heaven).