elag <elag@cloud9.net> wrote in message news:<3F18D0CC.C3F6DA2F@cloud9.net>...
[snips]
> Parry wrote:
> > > > > > > Hey, I've always pined for my own theatre where I can show Stan Brakhage
> > > > > > > films, Silent movies, and Black & White cartoons... pay as you exit.
> > > > > > > Maybe people over there might be bored enough to take a chance on
> > > > > > > distinctly opposite fare. I could charge 5 bucks to attract all the
> > > > > > > cheapskates and deadbeats and maybe even break even. I could rent all
> > > > > > > those really obscure films I've only read about and that you hardly ever
> > > > > > > see even in NYC.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > A common daydream of my own, too. When the train station closed, I
> > > > > > imagined hollowing out the building and projecting Von Stroheim movies
> > > > > > in it.
> > > > >
> > > > > Nice coincidence... I was just wondering about the name of the director
> > > > > of "Greed" (1924). Sometimes I confuse him w/ Otto Preminger.
> > > > >
> > > > > Maybe, someday I really can realize my idea on some level. After all
> > > > > I've seen films & screened my films in places which were little more
> > > > > that storefronts, bars, rooftops, &tc. I'll have to watch for an opportunity.
> > > >
> > > > A new daydream: touring remote areas of South America, Africa and Asia
> > > > with a projector, generator, and handful of films, screening them
> > > > wherever the hospitality seems right to feed and shelter you for the
> > > > evening.
> > >
> > > I know that this sort of thing goes on in Australia New Zealand and
> > > China where a film projection team equipped with a 16mm projector still
> > > travels "as a guerrilla unit" from village to village.
> > >
> > > I believe I saw a docu on the subject but I can't turn up any concrete info.
> > >
> > > So rest assured that your dream is somewhere a reality. Let us rejoice!
> >
> > It would be great to observe audiences who aren't jaded to film.
>
> I find myself picturing the audience at an early Lumiere bros. show...
> "Help! That train is heading right for us! Help!!!"
When Brazil's horror director Jose Mojica Marins was blasklisted from
theatres under the military dictatorship, he would travel the
countryside and screen his films at fairs and amusement parks. His
blasphemous "Coffin Joe" movies must have made a big impression on the
conservative christians who saw them. Marins was reviled as a monster
and "Coffin Joe" entered into the popular vocabulary. Wish I could
have seen the audience response firsthand.
> I wonder if a film deprived society would prefer early simpler fare from
> the early days, like Porter's "Great Train Robbery" or the cutting edge
> in Hollywood escapism like "The Hulk"?
>
> I guess the latter but it might make an interesting study.
>
> > > > ...
> > > > > > > I have read about that, probably in the trivia laden "Reader's Digest".
> > > > > > > It would make a great formula for building Ice Hotels and sculpture gardens.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > You read "Reader's Digest"? No wonder you're so smart.
> > > > >
> > > > > It's not like I have a subscription... It's just that you tend to find
> > > > > it in toilets (where it belongs)... and I happen to have found one of
> > > > > their books of "Strange Stories, Amazing Facts &tc"... actually quite
> > > > > interesting if you only have 45 seconds reading time...
> > > >
> > > > I can't be snarky here as I have some Reader's Digest material myself.
> > > > For instance, there's a songbook designed for family fun, but the
> > > > guitar-fingering they propose is needlessly difficult. Watch gramps
> > > > break his wrist while trying to go from an Ab diminished with a G to
> > > > C9 playing Bye Bye Blackbird. But I like to attempt their chord
> > > > changes just to see where my mistakes lead.
> > >
> > > I play guitar a bit and yes it does sound like intentional torture...
> > > probably the editors just copied and pasted w/o a thought about carpal
> > > tunnels...
> >
> > I suspect in the 60s publishers hired frustrated composers to
> > transcribe the music. You could find sheet music for radio pop songs
> > full of weird chord configurations, which if you tried to play
> > wouldn't sound anything like the records.
> >
> > > I was just saying to a prospective guitarist that you really
> > > only need to know 7 basic chords in order to play simple songs... not
> > > everyone even wants to be a Segovia.
> >
> > Even three chords will get you a lot of songs.
>
> Sure, any Ramones song...
>
> > Learn two chords and you can play mine.
>
> Y'all could just tune that gee-tar to an open tuning... then you could
> play any chord you want.
>
> I always thought that the guitar made an even better percussion instrument.
Have you ever seen Fred Frith play?
> > > I like the idea of improvising on fingering errors. I was always a
> > > sloppy player myself, but it does lead to unexpected places at times.
> >
> > I'm not a good guitarist, but fortunately I enjoy discordant music.
>
> Schoenberg on one string?
Probably sounds more like David Steinberg.
[snip]
> > > > What can you expect from a group that puts "COP" in its name?
> > >
> > > I can appreciate a good acronym. Personally. I'd rather have a dose of
> > > CSICOP than another credulous interview by the likes of Connie Chung of
> > > the likes of Yuri Geller.
> >
> > I probably enjoy the latter more, as the general area of credulity and
> > beliefs is baffling. Take any crazy scenario -- being raped by
> > extraterrestrials, getting phone calls from the dead, being cured of
> > cankers by jesus -- and you'll find thousands of people who will swear
> > it happened to them. No wonder I'm suspicious of "belief" in itself.
> > Now here's a new poll that suggests a third of Americans believe that
> > the US found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and 22% think Iraq
> > used chemical or biological weapons in the war.
> > http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/6085261.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
>
> It's pretty amazing, but to be fair,these people are to a great extent
> the victims of a large propaganda drive. How many times has the
> discovery of Big Scary Weapons been announced?... and where are the retractions?
>
> It will be interesting to see if and how Blair & Bush (best o' pals)
> survive their Big Lie.
They can get away with murder, obviously. Have you checked the Iraq
Body Count page lately? Anyway, the British Dossier and the American
forgery aren't exactly news, having been exposed well before the bombs
started dropping. They were absent from the propaganda news, but now
there's an advantage for the political opposition to be talking about
these things. I suppose the worst that can happen to B&B is they might
lose their next election.
[snip]
> > > I recall as a child finding some buried burlap scraps which I was sure
> > > would turn out to be the garb of an Indian Princess. Believing that it
> > > was sure made that day interesting... I really wanted to believe it, but
> > > I was fooling myself.
> >
> > How can you say that? If we're looking for the so-called scientific
> > method, you should at least have those scraps analysed. Perhaps they
> > belonged to an Yma Sumac costume.
>
> No, they were burlap all right... I'm sure it was a case of holding two
> opposite ideas in my head at once... merely an enjoyable bit of fantasy.
> Anyway, those scraps are long gone, but I do have some 2000 year old
> pottery shards which I found in a tilled field near Metaponto (Italy).
>
> There's the scientific method at work.
>
> BTW, did you know that Smooth Sumac berries can be used to make a pink
> lemonade-like drink?
It's always about the food with you, isn't it?
[snip]
> > > Well, that's the general idea... the best way to get rich quick is not
> > > to invest in get rich quick schemes.
> >
> > Have you tried selling that advice through a campaign of spam yet?
>
> Right... How to make a million dollars: sell a 1$ pamphlet to 1 million
> people advising them to sell 1$ pamphlets to 1 million people advising
> them to sell 1$ pamphlets....
And of course now I'm being spammed with ads for how to "Stop Spam
Now."
-- Parry
|
| Follow-ups: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 |
| 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 |
|