SansFin
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Posts
10,146 -
Joined
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Days Won
29
Posts posted by SansFin
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> {quote:title=FredCDobbs wrote:}{quote}
> the US is filled with immigrants who never went to school at all
Yep! Us stoopid immy-grints are rooinatin' yur country!
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I thank you very much for locating the high points of the coming week.
I can add only a few thoughts:
*Krylya* (1968) is a gentle character study of a woman who passionately embraced the zeitgeist of the war and her life now is an anti-climax. It is perhaps Larisa Shepitko's best movie. It is also early in Maya Bulgakova's career. I am sure it will be outside of the comfort zone of many viewers.
*The L-Shaped Room* (1962) in my favorite Leslis Caron drama.
*Love In The Afternoon* (1957) is a very touching story and is also very funny with Maurice Chevalier as a doting and befuddled father!
*Ring Of Bright Water* (1969) has a premise that intrigues me.
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> {quote:title=misswonderly wrote:}{quote}
> And I have to extend this snootiness and judgement to school-age kids, if there are any who think that clips from silent films depicting stories from ancient Greek or Roman times are actual clips from those times !
I believe that one must consider that a fourth or fifth grader lacks the environ to make fine distinctions. They surely have not studied the history of movie-making or the related equipment and such documentaries are their first important immersal into the history of Greece and Rome.
The historical worldview of a child is divided between "what I can remember" and "stuff that happened a long time ago". It is not until the advent of puberty that the brain develops finer discretions and can relate dates to proper spacing on a timeline.
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> {quote:title=FredCDobbs wrote:}{quote}
> > I saw an interview on television wherein it was stated that Director Ron Howard contacted NASA in hopes that he could film some scenes in their anti-gravity chamber.
> Do you mean that he thought the room was on the ground?
It was said that he had seen clips of astronauts in weightlessness and he assumed it was a room at the NASA training facility. He did not know the effect needed an airplane or that it could not be sustained for the length of the shots he wanted to make.
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> {quote:title=Dargo wrote:}{quote}
> Secondly, I must disagree with SansFin in regard to her "Are You Smarter than a Fifth-Grader?" point, and where she questions the idea that learning "arcane facts" is of little to no importance.
I understand your counterpoint and I agree in principle.
The arcane facts I meant were the years of the reign of King Tut, the collective noun for foxes and similar things that are of little or no use for the majority of people in adult life. An example of this also is that my esso is an award-winning author and he can not explain what is an intransitive verb versus a transitive verb.
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> {quote:title=TikiSoo wrote:}{quote}
> SansFin: I do have a concern for documentaries which use clips from silent movies to depict Romans and Greeks. I fear that some younger people may have the impression due to the obvious age of the film that it was actual footage of the time.
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> That reminds me of the parent that publicly complained that the local science museum's animatronic dinosaur display was "fake". After seeing the ads, she expected to see "real live dinosaurs"!
I saw an interview on television wherein it was stated that Director Ron Howard contacted NASA in hopes that he could film some scenes in their anti-gravity chamber. He assumed they must have a room in which they could switch off the gravity so they could train astronauts.
I find it interesting how things can become planted in the subconscious and lay there unquestioned.
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> {quote:title=JakeHolman wrote:}{quote}
> Google Hillsdale College for the free 10 week course on the Constitution. You can take it at your own pace with readings and videos. Again, it's free and very good.
I thank you for the recommendation.
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> {quote:title=musikone wrote:}{quote}
> Hint: try using the spell-checker.
My Spill Chequer
Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rarely ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect in it's weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.
(Sauce unknown)
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I see little harm in showing theatrical movies in classrooms when there is not a certified and approved educational documentary on the same subject available.
Not all people can learn well from books. The levels of processing are far greater and are very different from learning by physical experience.
It is the very nature of our brains also that movement and sound are given greater importance than static images. This translates into a greater presence in memory.
I do have a concern for documentaries which use clips from silent movies to depict Romans and Greeks. It adds greatly to the mental availability of the material. I fear that some younger people may have the impression due to the obvious age of the film that it was actual footage of the time.
I have been studying American history since I came here. It is very different from what I learned. The modern texts are also very different from texts written when the events were much more recent. Historians have obviously twisted facts to fit their political or social agendas. I am sure this has always happened to some extent. It seems deeper and more far-reaching than in the past because historians were more independent and could be contrasted one against another before universities gained as much power as they now have. It is now that certain views have been institutionalized and there is far less availability of views to contradict the politically-correct views.
I find I have little reverence for educational systems in general. My concern is highlighted by the television show: Are You Smarter than a Fifth-Grader? Children are heavily penalized if they do not know arcane facts which are clearly of little or no use in life and adults are happy and successful without knowing them. There is also the fact that there is nothing taught that is absolutely necessary to know in order to graduate. If 80% is a passing grade then five students could score that and pass without any single fact being known by all of them.
In two of my courses in school we watched a movie each Monday. I took the courses because of them. I do not believe the courses could have been taught effectively without them.
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> {quote:title=JamesinArlington wrote:}{quote}
> I do have to ask - how could you not include "The Abomanible Dr. Phibes"?
I thank you for your kind words.
I had that movie in the list of ones to schedule. It is sad to say that the timing did not allow it except if I had substituted it for the Fredric March movie.
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> {quote:title=markbeckuaf wrote:}{quote}
> I will have to check out LA JETEE, thanks for the tip!
I am curious if you watched it and what you think of it.
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I feel this acutely as I find very many highly-regarded melodramas as quite boring. It does not engage me when the only plot is a contrived sequence to demonstrate how badly the star needs to go to a local boutique and get themself a life or make an appointment at an alterations shop to have some darts and gores put into their personality.
I believe that genre movies such as westerns, mysteries and science fiction are less likely to be boring because their raison d'?tre is action which has an effect on the characters. Writers have "The Ancient Rule for Westerns" which is: shoot the sheriff in the first paragraph.
I do not wish to take this thread away from the main topic but I wonder if any here found La Jetee boring? The montage format seems as if it would not be as exciting or engaging as action scenes.
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These are all truly wonderful schedules!
I wish to thank kingrat for creating such a marvelous Challenge.
sunny75:
All of your choices are excellent and each should truly have won the award. It is nice to see so many comedies in your schedule as they are so often ignored by awards. My favorites are: Trouble in Paradise, Queen Christina, Midnight, His Girl Friday and The Quiet Man.
Capuchin:
I believe little should be said of this schedule. It is obviously the result of mixing pseudoephedrine with hot rum toddies.
aimalac:
I love the idea of using TCM's Summer Under the Stars as a basis to showcase your actors. My favorites are: The Great Race, Murder By Death and The Cheap Detective all shown together and The Grass Is Greener, The Ghost Breakers, How To Murder Your Wife and The Front Page. Ralph Bakshi's The Lord Of The Rings is excellent for TCM UnderGround!
skimpole:
The first day of your schedule makes me sad because I know we will never see such a line-up in a real schedule. To have Miyazaki, Mizoguchi, Pudovkin, Shepitko and Ozu in one day is very much more than we can ever expect. Many of your choices for Monday and Tuesday could have been cribbed from lists of my favorites movies. It is truly sad that Erland Josephson could not have lived to see TCM provide such a tribute.
BetteDavis19:
This is an amazing schedule. It is often forgotten that the 1920s and 1930s were the basis out of which the Golden Age grew. My favorites are: L'Inhumane, Rebecca, Trouble in Paradise, The Black Pirate and all of Saturday's science fiction and horror.
I will not critique my own schedule as Capuchin always does. I will say that it contains an error: the name and date of the movie at 11:00 AM on 17 Thursday should have been Trader Horn (1931) and not Trailer Horn (1950). I do not know how I made this mistake as one is an adventure and the other is a cartoon.
Lonesome Polecat:
Your schedule is absolutely wonderful! I would very much like to see Babette?s Feast as the TCM Import. All of the movies for your "Butler's Ball" are wonderful. Peter Ustinov is a great choice for Star of the Month. He is always a delight. I did not know that We?re No Angels had ever been shown. I hope it soon comes back into the rotation. "I Am My Own Evil Twin" is inspired! I agree completely with you Oscar corrections. I can not list all of my favorite movies in your schedule as there are so very many!
JamesinArlington:
This is a wonderful schedule! My favorites are: Love is a Ball, The Reluctant Saint, Cleopatra, My Man Godfrey and His Girl Friday. I would very much like to see Jack Carson as the Star of the Month. Your tribute to Ricardo Montalban has many great movies.
countessdelave:
Your schedules are always a high point in the Challenges. This one is truly marvelous in all respects. My favorite themes are: Fireman Save My Plot, Marie Antoinette, Elite Education and Six More Chances. Sylvia Sidney is a wonderful Star of the Month and it is made more special as being in movies based upon such literary classics. Your notations for the actresses in the TCM's Little Black Book are hilarious! I have never seen Sex Kittens Go To College. The title alone makes it seem as if it must truly be a cult film!
These are all truly wonderful schedules and I hope very much that the TCM Programmers use many of the ideas in them. You are all to be congratulated for your brilliant work!
It was very difficult to chose only one. My choice for my vote had to be based on consistency: that there are several movies each and every day that I would like to watch. Both Lonesome Polecat and countessdelave meet that criteria. I wish I could give half a vote to each.
As I can not do that I give my vote to: *Lonesome Polecat* because the Monday schedule would keep me watching the television all day.
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Could it be that there is a great importance to the color of their sheets? The lighting was manipulated so that the sheets are nearly white when the women talk of their childhood. The sheets are grey when they talk of their conflicts. The sheets are nearly as black as a widow's dress when they talk of past loves.
Since they are poor women they have to share a set of dentures. They take them out each time they are done speaking and hand it to the other so she can speak clearly.
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It would be very hard for me to chose only four. It would be very much easier for me if they would give me one evening in every week of the month as they do the Star of the Month.
If I had to pick four for only one night they might be:
Jolly Fellows (1934)
If I Were King (1938)
Jewel Robbery (1932)
Laura (1944)
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> {quote:title=aimalac wrote:}{quote}
> I knew there are a lot of 'disaster'/'destruction' movies, but you managed to find even more.
He thanks you for your kind words. Our Internet availability is limited so he will not be logging in again until it is time to vote.
He did note that he could have filled the entire week with movies of apocalypses if he had had unlimited premieres as the very good ones all seem to be either from Japan or Britain.
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*How Green Was My Valley* (1941) was scheduled for 11 Dec 07 at 8:00 PM ET. The other movies scheduled for that evening were:
*Young Mr. Lincoln* (1939)
*My Darling Clementine* (1946)
*When Willie Comes Marching Home* (1950)
All were directed by John Ford.
I could find no other listing for it in our databases which begin in 2005.
I believe the Guest Programmers often chose movies which are very widely available and decidedly mainstream because they do not wish to appear as if they either are closet geeks who lust after arcane titles or are so privileged that they can afford a great many movies which are not in general release. It is considered a personality quirk that they love classic movies. They do not wish to engender more speculation about their habits or morals by choosing movies which are not mainstream.
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> {quote:title=willbefree25 wrote:}{quote}
> So for the dolts who couldn't read all the letters in the SciFi channel logo, which forced them to shorten it to SyFy, that would be: SciFense?
It was never truly a sci-fi channel as they intended to also include horror, fantasy and other movies which fit into the overall genre of: not-your-mother's-movies.
Sci-fi has long been a contentious term in and of itself. Most authors prefer the term SF because it does not cheapen the genre and because it can stand also for Speculative Fiction which is an important distinction since the line between science fiction and fantasy is murky.
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I am also very happy to see you return! I have missed you very, very much!
I hope all will watch *La Jet?e* (1962) on Sunday night. It is a wonderful movie for twisting the brain.
It is only twenty-eight minutes long so it will not be a great sacrifice of time for any to watch it. The reviews for it on IMDB.com give it high praise.
I found it a powerful story told in a way that slips it under your brain's normal defenses.
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I must apologize to: skimpole, aimalac, Sunny75 and BetteDavis19 for I have not been able to properly comment on your schedules. I have only been able to skim them and I see they are wonderful. When my Internet access improves so that I can do more than a quick swipe through the boards I will give them the attention they deserve.
You are all to be congratulated on your great entries!
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> {quote:title=willbefree25 wrote:}{quote}
> I just checked the online schedule for ME TV - no Invisible Woman.
Are you saying it disappeared?
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> {quote:title=slaytonf wrote:}{quote}
> Gulp! Wh-wh-what am I supposed to do with that?
It came to more than 4,800 lines which is one movie title per line and it is 120KB.
It will require either manual deletion of single airings or use of a spreadsheet or database program to count duplicated entries.
> As for transferring it. Is there any way to set it up as a download? I'm sure I download programs as big as that just for software updates. Or do I not know what I'm typing about?
Please send me a PM if you wish to download it.
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lzcutter and hlywdkjk,
I thank you for that information. I did not know that showcasing such wonderful films would cause such a battle. The only "fault" I believed any person might find with them is that they are not 50 years old yet.
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> {quote:title=slaytonf wrote:}{quote}
> That's a generous offer, or rather I don't know how generous an offer it is, because I have no idea how much trouble it is to do what you propose. If you are up for it, I would say no less than a year.
It is a terrible amount of work. It is fortunate that most of the most bothersome bits have to be done in order to update our main database and that update should have been done months ago.
I have started it. It will be for all of 2011. I will likely be finished when you read this post. The next bothersome bit is how to send you the file. I estimate it will be between 3,000 and 4,000 lines and 100KB to 150KB in size. I doubt PM is appropriate for such size. I hesitate to send it as an attachment to an e-mail for many reasons. I will have to ask my esso about the options.
Off Topic: Favorite Music?
in Your Favorites
Posted
Granny-power!
The Grandmothers from Buranovo.
Edited by: SansFin on Mar 11, 2012 12:26 AM