Song of the Week: Vertigo (theme)

Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975) was one of the most popular and prolific composers of the mid-20th Century.  His early work in radio was mostly for Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre, and he moved to Hollywood to score Welles's debut Citizen Kane.  But perhaps his most famous collaborations were with Alfred Hitchcock. he nearly scored all of Hitchcock's films between 1955 and 1964, including The Man Who Knew Too Much, North by Northwest, and Psycho.  Some of the other films he worked on were Cape Fear and Taxi Driver.

One of my favorite scores, and also a great movie, is for Vertigo.  I took the time to re-watch Vertigo the other week, and couldn't help but notice how Herrmann's theme played up the dreamlike nature of the film.  A hard film to classify, I think everyone should see Vertigo at least once.

Here is Herrmann's main theme for Vertigo:

MST3K Friday: Invasion USA

"I can't stress 'unemotional' enough."

2012 Stanley Cup Finals

This is what it's all about.  The last two months of grueling hockey will soon come to an end.  One team will go home a winner and one team will just go home.

Playoff hockey is The Save.
Playoff hockey is The Save, Part II.
Playoff hockey is not quite enough.
Playoff hockey is Finally.

Tonight Los Angeles (8) faces off against New Jersey (6).  Is it possible to have to Cinderellas?  Los Angeles is a good pick because they were the eight seed in the West, but they have steamrolled all opposition, losing only two games in the whole tournament.  Many people (including me) wrote off New Jersey in nearly every round, but they keep proving us wrong.

Whatever way it goes, it's going to be fun.

My pick:  Los Angeles Kings.

Song of the Week: But Not For Me

"But Not For Me" was composed by George and Ira Gershwin in 1930 for the Broadway musical Girl Crazy. This version was recorded in 1959 by Ella Fitzgerald with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. Ira Gershwin, still alive at the time of this recording, remarked after hearing Ella sing, "I didn't realize how great some of the music George and I wrote was until I heard her sing it".

MST3K Friday: Hamlet

Yup, Hamlet, my favorite Shakespeare play (though my appreciation for Othello has grown recently).  No, this isn't the Mel Gibson version.  It a 1960 made for German TV version.  Probably the best thing about it is Claudius's voice is dubbed by  Ricardo Montalban!

"Hey, any Danish left?"
"Why were you looking at his like?"
"Hail, Queen Dilbert's Boss."

When the Sacred Ginmill Closes by, Lawrence Block

I had the sort of hangover I knew enough to treat with respect.

Matthew Scudder is an alcoholic.  Above all else, ex-cop, unlicensed private eye, ex-husband, father, that's what he is.  A highly functioning alcoholic, yes. When the Sacred Ginmill Closes starts with Scudder drinking at an after-hours bar called Morrissey’s (“The legal closing hour for bars in the city of New York is 4:00 a.m., but Morrissey’s was an illegal establishment and was thus not bound by regulations of that sort”). Two masked gunmen break in and knock over the joint; taking the cashbox on the counter, another box in a safe, even a collection jar for IRA loyalists.  Scudder agrees to help the Morrisseys, a drinking buddy ("Telephone Tommy") accused of killing his wife, and his old bartender Skip who is being blackmailed after the honest books from his bar is stolen.

Scudder is a unique character in many ways.  Even though he takes on three cases, he seems to half-ass his way though all but Skip's.  While he's technically an unlicensed PI, he considers himself just a guy who does favors for friends for money.  His top priority is finding enough cash to get his next drink.

Another thing that sets him apart is how he solves the case(s).  While other PI's would show you how the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle fit together, Scudder isn't quite sure how he knows what he knows.  But if you look back (there's an early conversation with the blackmailers with a huge clue), you can see that author Lawrence Block has put all the pieces there for you to find.  In fact, there are big clues to character motivations in the first three pages.

This shows that Block is a master at the top of his game.  He sets up all these things you "know" that when the ending comes, it seems perfectly obvious without being telegraphed.  It's a subtle, sneaky book.

Song of the Week: Heart Full of Soul

Saturday night I watched the movie London Boulevard.  Colin Farrell plays an ex-con named Mitchell who is released from prison as the movie starts.  His friends want to pull him back into the old life, but Mitchell meets a reclusive actress (Keira Knightley) who hires him to do odd jobs around the house.  Of course, Mitchell's friends don't accept his answer and the girl falls in love with him.  The movie got mostly negative reviews, but I thought it was decent.  London Boulevard is based on a novel by Ken Bruen, so expect it to be a bit noir.

One of the great things about the movie was the soundtrack.  There are a ton of good songs, but this one was used on numerous occasions.  Plus, it was one of my favorites.  Here are The Yardbirds with "Heart Full of Soul".

2012 Stanley Cup: Conference Finals

I don't know why I even bother.  After going 4-4 in round one, I went 1-3 in the second round.

If I hadn't been swayed by St. Louis's regular season record, I would've picked the Kings last round, but that still would've only gotten me to 2-2.

My picks for this round are LA and the New York Rangers.

We'll see if I end up jinxing anybody.

Song of the Week: Wave Goodbye

Since I really enjoyed the theme song to Casino Royale, I started to look into the singer, Chris Cornell.  I was never a real big fan of Soundgarden (other than a few songs), but I like his solo work and his work with Audioslave.  This week's song comes from his first solo record, Euphoria Morning.  "Wave Goodbye" was written as a tribute to his friend Jeff Buckley after Buckley's untimely death in 1997.  I think it does a good job of capturing the feeling of losing someone before you're ready.

MST3K Friday: Special Effects

Continuing the Top 5 theme, here are the Top 5 worst special effects.  A lot of these movies were shot on a shoestring budget, and it quite often shows.  My favorite bad special effect is at the end of "The Beginning of the End" (starring Peter Graves).  Chicago is attacked by giant mantises (mantesii?) and it's clearly regular size insects crawling over a post card of the city.  You can see that starting around the 5 minute mark of this clip.