misswonderly3

VP19 wrote of Ken Burns: "...he might have taken one specific angle and ran it into the ground (just as "Baseball" is spoiled by his obsession with the Boston Red Sox, and a similar New England-centric bias tainted "The Civil War"). " You think? I didn't get that from his Civil War series at all, I thought it was remarkably unbiased. However, I am not American, so perhaps am not sensitive to these matters. Of the three documentaries by Burns that I mentioned, the only one I have not seen is "Baseball", so I cannot comment on that one. Tikisoo was critical of the visuals in his series, citing bad lighting and too much repetition of shots of various individuals. I have never noticed any aesthetic problem with the lighting in his interviews, which were most often of academics sitting at their desks. I had no problem with that. The use of repetition, especially for the Civil War series, was, I imagine, due to the fact that he had to make the most with what he had in terms of visual material. I believe there's some kind of caveat at the beginning of that series, acknowledging that most of the visual aspect is comprised of sepia photographs from that time, so he was probably somewhat limited in his options. I don't know, perhaps the visual aspect of his documentaries is somewhat lacking for some people, depends what you're looking for (no pun intended). Certainly the research, the way both series (Civil War and Jazz) were organized, and most of all the use of music, were outstanding. And I still think he would have done an excellent job with a documentary on the history of movies and movie-making in the United States. However, John Wilkman and Bill Haber did impressive work, and it was not my intention here to denigrate them.

Sweet Soul Music, oh yeah ! The second, live version was great fun. I like the way the horn players swung those saxes back and forth in time. Only problem was a technical one. I'm finding that all this week, youtube is acting weird. Every song I look up on it stops and "buffers", not only once in the song, but many times. Kind of wrecks the flow. This happens now and then with youtube, but not usually for days in a row like this. Is it just me? ("It's not you, it's me".) Is it something to do with my computer, or with the internet reception I get where I live? The newly arrived wintry weather? Is anyone else having this problem?

Before Buble, there was Harry Connick Jr. Who, I think, is still going on strong.

TikiSoo, regarding the Ken Burns documentaries, judging by the way you describe them, I cannot believe we've watched the same films. The "cheesy" style you speak of is totally absent in the documentaries by him that I've watched - The Civil War and Jazz series. I can't speak for the one on baseball, since I haven't seen all of it. Burns is extremely thorough in his research, and the people interviewed are either very knowledgeable or have personal experience with the topic. They are outstanding documentaries in every way, in my opinion, entertaining and very informative. I have to wonder if we've seen the same documentaries. I think Ken Burns would have done a fantastic job on a subject like "Moguls and Movie Stars". And I still think the episodes , engrossing though they are, whip through everything too fast and with too little depth.

Phil Ochs will have to wait..today it's Kenny Ellis, with a swinging Hanukkah song:

I get actors' names wrong all the time, believe me... so please don't be offended if I mention that the fine British actor who stars in the 1951 version of *A Christmas Carol* is Alistair Sim (no "s" at the end.) I've gotten actors' and directors' names more incorrect than that - and I never seem to know how to spell half of them either ! That version of the Charles Dickens Christmas classic is my very favourite, the best of the many that have been made. Although, yeah, Mr. Magoo's is pretty good too. (Anyone remember that song, the one the rag people sing: "We're rep _re_hensible ! And we'll steal your pen and your pen_ci_ble ! Lah! Lah! Lah lah lah lah lah !"

Did you folks know, Michael Buble is Canadian. ( I'm just sayin'...)

I was thinking of that character from Bugs Bunny, you know, the big rooster who's always being pursued by either the dog or that little tiny bird who's looking for a " chicken hawk" and thinks he's found it in the rooster.

finance, that's what I was trying to do...maybe this will work: .. nah, just some random punctuation. _ kinokima, thanks for that link. I looked it up, and I couldn't believe all the great movies on that list. Some of them I wouldn't have thought of, but they are definitely religious or spiritual in nature, like Woody Allen's *Crimes and Misdemeaneurs* . Many unusual and offbeat titles, lots of "indie" and foreign films, etc. Good link. Edited by: misswonderly on Dec 1, 2010 3:37 PM

Well, it's a "happy face" George Costanza style. No, actually, it was supposed to indicate a straight face. I guess computers aren't programmed to work with straight faces.

ChrisB, I hope you don't mind...I started another thread about this in the "Hot Topics" forum. I think it's a really important question, and I wanted a lot of people to see it, in case one of them knows the answer ( more people seem to go on that forum than this one.) Hey, fellow Canadians, am I the only one who gets frustrated when TCM American version shows a movie you've always wanted to see, but it doesn't get aired in Canada? Something to do with "rights issues".

I'll take that as a compliment. George is my role model. :l

> {quote:title=cujas wrote:}{quote} > You know me, I'm a Jayhawk and I don't play basketball. I was wondering, does a "Jayhawk" have any connection to a "Chickenhawk" ? What, Ah say, what , are you talkin' about, son ?

What?? Surely not - where'd you get that idea? (Sorry I called you Shirley - a joke from one of our own, deceased just the other day.)

cinemaven, I probably shouldn't, but I'll bite...There have been several posters on this thread who have been much more critical of the series than I have been, so perhaps your comment was referring to them. Even they did not sound totally negative to me, just some aspects of the show they thought could have been better. But if, when you say, "It's so easy to put something down and some can't see the forest for the tress" you are referring to my comments about the series, I think you 're being unfair. I went out of my way to say that overall I enjoyed the series, and in fact you could make the case that my main complaint about it is that it leaves me wanting more...hardly something one would say if they disliked a production, or thought it was poorly done. I think the criticisms I made were valid; just because I don't whole-heartedly embrace it doesn't mean I don't "see the forest for the trees". And this is what I said at the end of that post: "I do enjoy the series and acknowledge all the work and research that must have gone into it. And, critical though I may be, I'm always happy to watch it, and I do learn from it. a thousand happy faces to you, darling. X 1000

Great food can be akin to a religious experience -like certain other things. But perhaps you were referring to my description of Joan Crawford, possibly having a Zen moment while preparing chili in the film *Susan and God* ? If so, I must confess that I totally made that up, I've never even seen the film, although I'd like to. Hey, did the average American even eat chili back when that movie was made? So - lots of comments about chili and chocolate...Any comments about this Joan Crawford vehicle? Is it a typical Joan-o-drama ? Recommended? Edited by: misswonderly on Dec 1, 2010 11:19 AM

Constance Towers ! She was in a couple of late noirs, *The Naked Kiss* and *Shock Corridor* ! I had no idea she was still working as a soap star .

We don't have enough Dylan on this thread. finance, I recall a while ago you mentioned that you liked "Tangled Up in Blue". It is a fine song, haunting melody and lyrics. I could find only one version on youtube that has Bob Dylan himself singing it, and even then it's not the album ( Blood on the Tracks) version. So here it is - I hope you guys in the States can pick it up (rights issues). Let me know if you get the video or a message saying it's not available.

Tip when making chili: a secret ingredient that makes it delicious is about a teaspoon -no, dammit, let's throw caution to the winds - a tablespoon of cocoa. Real cocoa powder, no sugar added. Add it to the chili around the same time you'd add the chili powder. And now, back to our regular programming: I'm surprised no one's mentioned the 1940 film, starring Joan Crawford and Frederic March, *Susan and God* . Now I really have no business talking about this movie, because I still haven't seen it myself yet. Seems everytime TCM airs it I'm busy or something. Still, judging by its title and what I know about it, it would qualify as a "religious experience" film. Wouldn't it? (I understand there's a scene where Joan is in the kitchen making chili, and decides to add some cocoa to it.)

cujas, I love commentaries on dvds. It's fun to watch the movie first, the usual way, and then (obviously not the same night, might be too much of a good thing) - watching the film again, this time with the commentary. It does vary, of course, depending on the film and on who the commentator is. I find I especially enjoy this dvd extra on film noir dvds; often it's a "noir" expert, and their contributions add a lot to the enjoyment and understanding of the film.

*Wings of Desire* is a wonderful film, and I agree, on a higher level than *Pleasantville*/ I'm sure you know, Valentine, that Wim Wenders made a follow-up to *Wings of Desire* (1987) in 1993, *Faraway So Close*. Although I have seen it, unfortunately it was only once, and so long ago I can't recall if Wenders did the same thing with the black and white/colour idea. MFF, that's cute about Shirley Temple's pink frock. I really have to be in a certain mood to watch any of the tyke's movies all the way through, though. Her movies are kind of like "comfort food", the macaroni and cheese of old movies - sometimes they are pleasant and comforting, and not wholely without substance, but you don't always fancy macaroni and cheese, you have to be in the mac and cheese zone to appreciate it -same with little Miss Temple.

"...With reference to Cold Turkey, I think it's obvious what most people would be wishing for." Whaaat? Gravy? Stuffing? or for Yoko to keep quiet? ( give her a drumstick.) Beautiful video -I've heard of the Jayhawks, but know little about them. I'll have to click that link again, later, because the song, good though I could tell it was, was continually interrupted by that "stop and buffer" problem that youtube sometimes exhibits. So due to technical problems, I didn't get the full benefit of it. It's very rainy here, maybe that's causing the problem. Hope that doesn't happen with this one. One last nod to the "Nicks", this time NIck Cave and the Bad Seeds, with "There She Goes, My Beautiful World". A fantastic song, very passionate and urgent-sounding. The original is even better, but I couldn't find a good copy of it on youtube. Any version rocks, though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1fzqtTV2EE Edited by: misswonderly on Nov 30, 2010 3:25 PM

I'm feeling ambivalent about the series. I look forward to it, wouldn't want to miss it, and stay glued to my chair when it's on. At the same time, I feel unsatisfied at the end of each segment, and feel there is so much more they could have done. Yes, there are reasons I suppose for limiting each episode to an hour, but at the end of that hour it always feels as though they've bitten off more than they can chew. I think that by combining both "moguls" and movie stars, the makers of this documentary have tried to be too diverse and try to cover too much in the time they have alloted for each episode. You could easily spend more than an hour on just one or the other of those two topics. And as far as I can tell, most of the show concentrates on the " moguls", the "movie stars" being given a mention now and then, and not in any consistent way. There is a very good maker of this kind of documentary series, Ken Burns. He has made, to date, three fantastic documentary series about the Civil War, Baseball, and Jazz. He has said that he feel all three of those subjects have contributed hugely to American's identity. I think we could safely say that Movies could and should be considered an fourth ingredient to that. Burns' episodes were , I think, either an hour and a half each, or even two hours. This enabled him to cover his subjects in a lot of depth. I do wonder what Burns could have done with a series like this. Having said that, I do enjoy the series and acknowledge all the work and research that must have gone into it. And, critical though I may be, I'm always happy to watch it, and I do learn from it.

That was the intention. ( insert smiley face here.)

tracey, baby, how interesting that you resurrected this thread to talk about Confederacy of Dunces , because I finally decided to start reading it a few days ago. So far I'm not sure what to make of it -Ignatious is so dislikable ! I guess that's why he's supposed to be funny. I can definitely see Jack Black in the role. ( That sounds as though I don't like Jack Black, but actually, I do.) Edited by: misswonderly on Nov 29, 2010 11:23 PM