| Re: Season of the Severed Head, resumed |
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| Parry (parry@perfectmail.com) |
2003/09/28 19:06 |
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From: parry@perfectmail.com (Parry)
Newsgroups: alt.surrealism
Subject: Re: Season of the Severed Head, resumed
Date: 28 Sep 2003 18:06:13 -0700
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elag <elag@cloud9.net> wrote in message news:<3F7382E7.8F22677D@cloud9.net>...
elag wrote:
[snips]
> Parry wrote:
> > Sounds like actually saw "Black Sabbath," which I haven't seen but I
> > always get Barbara Steele and Boris Karloff mixed up too.
>
> Yeah, with all the funny retitling done on those flicks I didn't realize
> the difference. What did you think of "Sabbath".
As I said, haven't seen it.
> > > > > > In that case, *you* should have a copy of the script.
> > > > >
> > > > > That might be interesting to read. I don't read scripts very often, but
> > > > > I did find "Exterminating Angel" an enjoyable read. I think the
> > > > > repetitions work very well in the printed form.
> > > >
> > > > Or "Simon of the Desert" -- invaluable because I've never seen a print
> > > > with legible subtitles.
> > >
> > > I happen to have that script as well, but I never read it. I always
> > > feel somewhat defeated in advance when the script has been translated
> > > from another language.
> >
> > I don't have that concern as I'm stuck with one language -- a silly
> > language with words like "onomastics," "spalpeen," "belsnickle" and
> > "yomp." At least scripts which have been translated are more complete
> > than subtitles.
>
> My problem w/ translated scripts is that I don't catch as much of the
> nuance w/o the actor's delivery, or w/ languages I know (to one degree
> or another) the critical differences between the original and the
> translated interpretation. Also, it's hard to choose between differing
> versions of translations where they are available, though one might
> suppose that the newest trans. is best.
Sometimes it's nice though to supply your own nuances when reading a
script, just as with some novels you might cast the characters and
imagine the camera angles that frame the action.
> > > > > > All I know about the future is that it will be expensive.
> > > > >
> > > > > Yes, technoaddiction has turned out to be a withering weapon in the
> > > > > cause of mass consumption. I like to balance what high tech I do use w/
> > > > > as much low tech as possible. I grind coffee and juice oranges by hand
> > > > > even as I depend on my answering machine to be my personal assistant.
> > > >
> > > > My inadvertent vow of poverty has at least saved me from the trap of
> > > > technoaddiction.
> > >
> > > Poverty above a certain level isn't so bad. You've got free books and
> > > movies at the library... free art at museums and galleries... good cheap
> > > food if you can learn to cook... and plenty of time for nappin'. I
> > > don't envy the rich much even though I could surely make better use of
> > > their millions... the chains around their ankles seem too heavy to me
> > > even if they don't seem to perceive them.
> >
> > My difficulty was that when the government was handing out massive
> > fortunes they asked "what do you intend to do with the money" and I
> > said "I'd be Nikolai Ceascescu," and I haven't heard back on the
> > application.
>
> I think I might become a sort of daredevil "Serge Silberman" or maybe a
> small scale "Fassbinder".
Or perhaps a zen Louis B. Mayer or evil Jean Vigo...
> > > I often think of this quote from "Tropic of Cancer":
> > >
> > > "I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive. A
> > > year ago, six months ago, I thought that I was an artist. I no longer
> > > think about it, _I am_. Everything that was literature has fallen from
> > > me. There are no more books to be written, thank God. "This then? This
> > > is not a book. This is libel, slander, and defamation of character. This
> > > is not a book, in the ordinary sense of the word. No, this is a
> > > prolonged insult, a gob of spit in the face of Art, a kick in the pants
> > > sing for you, a little off-key perhaps, but I will sing. I will sing
> > > while you croak, I will dance over your dirty corpse."
> >
> > Nice bit. I lacked the patience, though, to wade through Miller's
> > ramblings to extract the good bits.
>
> I think the 1st two books are pretty readable, though I can see your
> point when it comes to Sexus, Plexus and Nexus. I've spent many night
> wandering aimlessly through the streets of Manhattan seeing all through
> a "Tropic of Cancer" filter. It's like the opposite of a neutral
> density filter.
I know the sensation you mean, though I've never gotten it from books,
probably because I don't go walking after reading. I've often had it
after leaving a movie, though. The effect is one of the best things
about movies.
> > Why are you evading the question of pumpkin?
>
> Ah, pumpkins... they are wonderful aren't they?.. they can be a sweet
> pie or a savory soup and even the toasted seeds make a wonderful treat
> to say nothing of their marvelous transformation into Jack O' Lanterns.
> Think of it, a vegetable into which you might merrily climb... some of
> them grow to weigh 100's of pounds.
Know any recipes for pumpkin drinks, Chef Elag?
> The noble pun'kin... I'm glad that it's nearly the season when I can
> once again gaze upon their orange shiny faces.
Hallowe'en's a great time of year, when my own shiny orange face isn't
so out of place.
> > > > I thought it was interesting that the shortcuts you took in the
> > > > animation worked as a sort of axle for the motion -- the contrast
> > > > between the stable parts and the moving parts of the image worked to
> > > > your advantage.
> > >
> > > This is an accepted animation technique, though I carried it out w/
> > > exceptional crudity. Figures are usually broken up into layers so that
> > > parts not moving in one frame don't have to be redrawn. Hopefully my
> > > end result will be far more fluid.
> >
> > I didn't see it in terms of crudity, though. When Hanna-Barbara looped
> > a moving background it was obvious even to a kid that it was because
> > they were working on the cheap, but now one can use that technique as
> > a sort of quote. So the technique was funny in the context of your gif
> > loop. Would the gif have been as funny if the background was more
> > realistic? Is over-animation a danger, where computers can insert the
> > twisted reflections of passing scenery on the spinning hubcap of a
> > car? Do audiences come to regard such pointless detail as a mark of
> > good animation?
>
> I'm not overly fond of such (over)animation, though a few judicious
> computer effects can liven up even cel animation. I'm reacting against
> such things in striving for a certain simplicity and cartoonishness and
> even crudeness in my concept. My own attitude is sort of anti-D1sney
> and against the trend towards naturalism. Nevertheless, my end result
> will be less crude than my tests, but I'm still not sure exactly what
> they will look like.
I suppose such choices are what create meaning in a work, and suspect
technology-driven animators will over-animate things just because they
can.
> > > > Care to kick around some of your plot notions?
> > >
> > > I've roughed out a preliminary storyboard which include the basic plot points:
> >
> > Of course I've elaborated on it. This is "alt.surrealism" after all...
> >
> > -Blank walks Jazzily down the street
> > -He sees a film marquee for "Old Banjo Nose" and holds his nose in
> > disdain
> > -"Old Banjo Nose" animates and sticks out his tongue
> > -a black limousine pull ups
> > -a half-eaten sandwich is thrown from the window and the limo drives
> > off
> > -Blank reaches for the sandwich but a rat scurries up to claim it
> > -both characters tug at the sandwich until the rat pulls a knife and
> > Blank retreats
> > -Blank watches a dress mannikin being undressed and digs it
> > -the window dresser plants a kiss on the mannequin
> > -Blank gets moon-eyed
> > -the manequin sticks out his tongue at Blank and the window dresser
> > slams the curtain closed on the window
> > -a white limousine pulls up and stops
> > -in very quick action a ritzy old fellow and two bubbly young woman
> > exit the limo, go into the dress shop, re-emerge with arms laden with
> > boxes, and drive off
> > -as the limo drives off, it splashes a puddle of water at Blank, but
> > the wall of water courteously stand suspended long enough for Blank to
> > step out of the way
> > -Blank smells something good
> > -Sees tasty 10 cent cakes in bakery window
> > -he stares into the window at the cakes which anthropomorphise and
> > start caressing themselves seductively
> > -with the image fromed from the window's point of view, Blank hears a
> > smacking sound and turns his head to see White is also standing there
> > ogling the cakes
> > -Blank checks pockets which are empty but for a screw and a rubber
> > ball
> > -the rat drives by in the back of a small open car driven by a mouse,
> > and flicks cigar ash at the heroes
> > -the ash rolls to a stop around a dime
> > back at the dime, etc.
> > -they dive for it and knock heads
> > -tweeting birds fly around their heads
> > -as their eyes slow spinning, the birds crash into their heads
> > -mariachi bands and a Chinese street fetival with elaborate kites
> > circle their heads, followed by the street cleaner (as in Bullwinkle),
> > then two kids sharing a lollipop
> > -Blank and White regain consciousness and growl at each other, but
> > then reflect on their vision of the children
> > -Blank suggests sharing
> > -White agrees and proposes that Blank use the dime to buy a cake and
> > White will eat it
> > -Blank refines the proposal so that they both use the dime to buy a
> > cake and split it
> > -White agrees so long as it's a chocolate cake
> > -Blank grimaces -- perhaps flashing back to the childhood moment when
> > he realised the chocolate bar he was chomping was writhing with
> > maggots -- and demands vanilla
> > -White says he normally wouldn't bargain with a stranger but he likes
> > Blank's face so howzabout they flip for it
> > -they flip they coin which spins in the air an abnormally long time
> > -as the coin spins mid-air they see the baker put another cake in the
> > window "new cake -- half chocolate / half vanilla"
> > -the coin plummets into the sewer
> > -they can't get the sewer grate open so they tie it to a dog's tail
> > and get it to chase a cat
> > -they climb down into the sewer
> > -they light a match but a mouse keeps blowing it out
> > -mouse steals the dime and floats away in an empty tomato can
> > -White makes a boat out of a disgarded newspaper and they take off in
> > pursuit...
>
> I'm glad you had fun anyway....
Gee, I hope you didn't take my remix as an affront. Perhaps I should
have been more liberal in my alterations: Blank and White descend
through the 3 levels of the NY sewer system where they battle the
bastard children of Cinder-Cat to death over orts of food. Despondent,
they get drunk on moonbeam distillate and wind up in a tattoo parlor
where they get so many tattoos the white character becomes black and
the black white. When they finally find the dime it assumes the shape
of a fish hook and skewers their cheeks.
> > > > > They do have a disc of Raymond Scott's music (Warner Bros. cartoon
> > > > > music), and other stuff that may still be in stores.
> > > >
> > > > Scott's stuff, you probably know, pre-existed the cartoons. On the
> > > > down side, the music may be too over-exposed at this point to want to
> > > > use; on the up side, Scott managed to get a fine audio quality for his
> > > > time, so it might be good to hear the originals for a change in a
> > > > cartoon.
> > >
> > > I won't use it I just enjoy listening to it. I liked the versions from
> > > "The Carl Stalling Project" and if I get my hands on the originals I'm
> > > sure I'll dig that too. I must admit that I have a preference for the
> > > cuts that still have the cartoon FX embedded. It would be nice to be
> > > able to turn that on and off, though.
> >
> > There was a well-done collection called "The Music of Raymond Scott:
> > Reckless Nights and Turkish Twilights" which I bet you could find
> > easily enough in a good used cd store.
>
> Maybe... but that sort of thing is notoriously difficult to dig up...
That particular cd was a Columbia release and was very easy to find at
the time. I expect there's many copies floating around the used cd
stores.
> > > > A few years ago, a jazz combo (Don Byron, "Bug Music")
> > > > recreated some of Scott's recordings, doing a decent job though
> > > > naturally some of the personality of the originals is missing.
> > > >
> > > > > > For other old-time recordings,
> > > > > > maybe too old actually, you might check the on-line Edison cylinder
> > > > > > archive (there's a Portland, Oregon connection, incidentally):
> > > > > > http://www.tinfoil.com/
> > > > >
> > > > > Yes, too early... but very very interesting. "The Dixie Rube" was the
> > > > > kind of thing that might make for a good old style tune though.
> > > >
> > > > Some of the recordings have a creepy quality which is nice, but the
> > > > music tends to be dead on its feet. I believe it wasn't until the 20's
> > > > that they started recording music that had life in it.
> > >
> > > I do have a preference for post 1919 Jazz, but even some of the earlier
> > > Dixieland type songs can be kind of nice, though the recordings are a
> > > bit muddy. I think I'm going to dip into a bit of King Oliver.
> >
> > The recordings are terrible, though at the time people likely thought
> > they sounded great. I would like to hear more of the old recordings,
> > though, as I'm a music junkie. If memory serves, it was in the 20's
> > that people started recording musics which I guess were previously
> > considered culturally insignificant -- by hillbillies, blacks, etc.
> > It's all probably available in some form or other. For instance, a few
> > years ago there was a cd series of ethnographic musics ("world music")
> > recorded in the 20's.
>
> Yes, there were also a lot of this type of thing released during the
> '50s hi-fi era, but I'm not sure if any of it made its way onto CD.
> Maybe it would be best to break down and buy a nice gramophone.
Sure, then you could be trendy and buy new vinyl releases of things
like the Rolling Stones' "Between the Buttons" for only a few dollars
more than what the cd costs. Actually, New York would be a great place
to own a record player. There's a vast, strange universe waiting in
those used vinyl stores.
-- Parry
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