Tuesday, February 5, 2019
Monday, February 4, 2019
advice sought -- what guitar to buy?
Now that I've been going to open mic nights (see here), I have renewed interest in getting another guitar. Right now I have two guitars:
A dreadnaught style Yamaha that I got 35-or-so years ago. It's got a good sound.
A 3/4 (I think) size Taylor. A GS-mini. We bought it for Sharon when she was taking lessons. She lost interest so I kept the guitar. It's got a really bright sound.
These are both acoustic, and I've been wanting an electric -- probably a Fender Strat or Tele (or something based on one of those designs. I love the glassy sound of a Strat. I've actually wanted an electric guitar for a long time, but just never really wanted to pay the price for one. Now with my doing open mics -- and fantasizing about memorializing some of my songs on CD -- the time may have come.
But now the question. What to buy? How to go about looking? Yeah, that's two questions. Sue me.
Amazon has some low-cost Strat-style guitars. And I found (quite by accident, believe it or not), a video review of "the cheapest electric guitar on Amazon." Spoiler: Apparently it's a decent guitar, though not great. A reasonably good buy for the price. And I found some low-end guitars on Amazon that seem to get good reviews.
On the other hand, there's a Sam Ash near me. Maybe I should go there (or to a Guitar Center) and look at used guitars. That way I can sit down and feel an instrument before spending my money. But I'd end up spending more. Yes, I know you get what you pay for -- but that's not always true. I also am not really experienced enough to know for sure what to look for.
So I ask my reader: What are your thoughts? Amazon cheapo, or used from a store? Any other related thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Sunday, February 3, 2019
uncovering chicanery -- brady style
With the continuing hoo-hah over the blown call in the NFC championship game -- the one that likely cost the Saints the game -- I recall a certain sequence in The Brady Bunch.
I remember seeing this as a kid, and thinking it was crazy -- no proof that the photo wasn't staged after the fact.
The fact is, the NFL today is just a cheap imitation of The Brady Bunch.
But at least there was no lawsuit.
I remember seeing this as a kid, and thinking it was crazy -- no proof that the photo wasn't staged after the fact.
The fact is, the NFL today is just a cheap imitation of The Brady Bunch.
But at least there was no lawsuit.
Saturday, February 2, 2019
mute wilma
There's something odd about the closing credits from the first season of The Flintstones.
As Fred walks by Wilma, who's asleep in bed, you can see that she has no mouth.
Joe from my cinema history class gave some background. When they were animating the Flintstones, mouths were done as separate cells from the rest of the person. That made it cheaper to animate people standing still and talking -- they could keep the same image for the body and just change the mouth. For whatever reason, in the sleeping sequence they neglected to add Wilma's mouth.
Friday, February 1, 2019
cinema history class: the four of the apocalypse
Session: Spaghetti Nightmares, Week 3
Movie: The Four of the Apocalypse (1975)
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Plot:
Four outcasts are traveling together, just trying to survive, when they run into a hired gun. At first, all looks good, but then they take a turn for the worse. Hilarity ensues.
Reaction:
My line about Spaghetti Westerns has been:
After Four of the Apocalypse I kind of have to revisit that observation, because the four protagonists here really are good guys. They may be flawed, but they all have good hearts -- they're not dark troubled heroes like Blondie (Eastwood in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly), Django (Nero in Django) or Harmonica (Bronson in Once Upon a Time in the West. Their problem is that they ran into the psychotically sadistic Chaco who's bad enough to make up for all of them.
At times, this was a very slow-moving film, as a lot of the trail sequences seemed to go on for too long. But, as it progresses it does seem to pick up steam. I think part of that has to do with the fact that the characters get fleshed out and become interesting.
Lucio Fulci, for his part, can't seem to make a movie that isn't a horror film. Despite this being a Spaghetti Western, we have the crazy guy seeing dead people, we have the cannibalism and we have the torture (including a graphic skinning scene.
The biggest flaw in this movie is the soundtrack. I've come to expect certain things in Spaghetti Western soundtracks, and early 1970's pop rock ain't it. I kept thinking they were playing albums by America of Cat Stevens. The music itself wasn't bad, but it didn't fit the film.
I was also kind of annoyed by an unimportant inconsistency. The opening narration sets the movie in 1873, but later on when Bud is looking through a graveyard, he puts dates of death as much later -- in the 1880s and 1890s. It may not be important, but it annoyed the hell out of me.
On the other hand, the cinematography was superb. There were some really well-done visuals. My favorite was near the opening -- an aerial shot of the four making their way through a more-or-less dry river bed.
At first I gave this an 8.5 which, in the context of this class, is not a great rating. But I spent enough time thinking about this movie that I think I need to upgrade it to a 9.
Movie: The Four of the Apocalypse (1975)
Directed by Lucio Fulci
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL
Plot:
Four outcasts are traveling together, just trying to survive, when they run into a hired gun. At first, all looks good, but then they take a turn for the worse. Hilarity ensues.
Reaction:
My line about Spaghetti Westerns has been:
The difference between American Westerns and Spaghetti Westerns is that American Westerns have good guys and bad guys while Spaghetti Westerns have bad guys and worse guys.
After Four of the Apocalypse I kind of have to revisit that observation, because the four protagonists here really are good guys. They may be flawed, but they all have good hearts -- they're not dark troubled heroes like Blondie (Eastwood in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly), Django (Nero in Django) or Harmonica (Bronson in Once Upon a Time in the West. Their problem is that they ran into the psychotically sadistic Chaco who's bad enough to make up for all of them.
At times, this was a very slow-moving film, as a lot of the trail sequences seemed to go on for too long. But, as it progresses it does seem to pick up steam. I think part of that has to do with the fact that the characters get fleshed out and become interesting.
Lucio Fulci, for his part, can't seem to make a movie that isn't a horror film. Despite this being a Spaghetti Western, we have the crazy guy seeing dead people, we have the cannibalism and we have the torture (including a graphic skinning scene.
The biggest flaw in this movie is the soundtrack. I've come to expect certain things in Spaghetti Western soundtracks, and early 1970's pop rock ain't it. I kept thinking they were playing albums by America of Cat Stevens. The music itself wasn't bad, but it didn't fit the film.
I was also kind of annoyed by an unimportant inconsistency. The opening narration sets the movie in 1873, but later on when Bud is looking through a graveyard, he puts dates of death as much later -- in the 1880s and 1890s. It may not be important, but it annoyed the hell out of me.
On the other hand, the cinematography was superb. There were some really well-done visuals. My favorite was near the opening -- an aerial shot of the four making their way through a more-or-less dry river bed.
At first I gave this an 8.5 which, in the context of this class, is not a great rating. But I spent enough time thinking about this movie that I think I need to upgrade it to a 9.
Ratings:
Me: 9 (in class, I gave it an 8.5, but have since rethought that).
Dave: 9.2
Ethan: 9
Joe: 9.5
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