Adventures in American Filmmaking #73
Today's Adventure: Francis Ford Coppola articulates his vision for Apocalypse Now
for the series:
Adventures in American Filmmaking
April 30, 2007
They Were Collaborators #302
I.A.L. Diamond and Billy Wilder
for the series:
They Were Collaborators
Relevant Quote #86
"My master heard me with great appearances of uneasiness in his countenance; because doubting, or not believing, are so little known in this country, that the inhabitants cannot tell how to behave themselves under such circumstances. And I remember, in frequent discourses with my master concerning the nature of manhood in other parts of the world, having occasion to talk of lying and false representation, it was with much difficulty that he comprehended what I meant, although he had otherwise a most acute judgment. For he argued thus: 'that the use of speech was to make us understand one another, and to receive information of facts; now, if any one said the thing which was not, these ends were defeated, because I cannot properly be said to understand him; and I am so far from receiving information, that he leaves me worse than in ignorance; for I am led to believe a thing black, when it is white, and short, when it is long.' And these were all the notions he had concerning that faculty of lying, so perfectly well understood, and so universally practised, among human creatures."
-- Jonathan Swift
for the series:
Relevant Quotes
April 29, 2007
When Legends Gather #243
Nico and Brian Jones at the Monterrey Pop festival.
for the series:
When Legends Gather
Through the lens of Cyril Arapoff #5
A group of boys outside a second-hand shop in the vacinity of Aldgate.
for the series:
Through the Lens of Cyril Arapoff
From the Sketch Book of Lawson Wood #12
A land breeze
for the series:
From the Sketch Book of Lawson Wood
The Art of the London Underground #17
Untitled by Charles Pears; 1915
for the series:
Art of the London Underground
April 28, 2007
The Art of Socialism #5
Appeal to Reason subscription renewal receipt (1907)
for the series:
Art of Socialism
The Art of Pop #8
Mood to Be Wooed
(Sammy Davis, jr.)
(Decca Records; 1958)
for the series:
Art of Pop
When Legends Gather #242
Elvis Presley, Tennessee Williams, Col. Tom Parker, Laurence Harvey and Hal Wallis
for the series:
When Legends Gather
They Were Collaborators #300
Elvis Costello and the Attractions
for the series:
They Were Collaborators
Artists in Action #180
Jean Cocteau picks out a tune. Perhaps Smoke Gets In Your Eyes?
for the series:
Artists in Action
April 27, 2007
The Art of Songwriting #17
Dapper Dan from Dear Old Dixieland
Music: Albert von Tilzer
Lyrics: Lew Brown
(Broadway Music Corp; 1921)
for the series:
Art of Songwriting
April 26, 2007
Seminal Image #646
Koroshi no rakuin
(Branded to Kill)
(Seijun Suzuki; 1967)
(a big and enthusiastic thanks to Nate Bundy of Real Political Face Talk for this image)
for the series:
Seminal Images
April 25, 2007
The Native-Americana of Edward S. Curtis #5
Geronimo -- Apache (1905)
for the series:
The Native-Americana of Edward S. Curtis
April 24, 2007
They Were Collaborators #299
Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family
for the series:
They Were Collaborators
April 23, 2007
David Halberstam Dead at 73
For those among us who despair at the dwlindling number of writers who can truly wield a sentence, some extremely sad news crosses the wires this evening: David Halberstam was killed earlier today in an automobile accident in Menlo Park, CA.
He was, as the obituaries would say, 73.
Of course, he was more than just another New Journalist (though he was among the finest of that species), and more than just a best-selling author with a Pulitzer all his own. Covering the earliest stages of the United States' invasion of South Vietnam for The New York Times, Halberstam's dispatches were so blunt in their portrait of the rapidly deteriorating Diem regime, and so at variance with Washington's own version of events, that then-President John F. Kennedy had the Times' publisher, Arthur Ochs 'Punch' Sulzberger, reassign his ass to the Paris desk (and that's where he went). But he went on. With 1965's The Making of a Quagmire and the majestic The Best and the Brightest (1972), Halberstam established himself as the only journalist in America who could grasp the full spectrum of that blood-soaked folly in Southeast Asia; seeing it as no less than the demonic spawn of third-rate academics fashioning themselves into an intellectual/managerial elite.
True, he wasn't the only journalist in Vietnam to openly challenge the official line in his reporting (in fact, the above photo, from 1963, shows Halberstam, on the left, with two of the others: Malcolm Browne of the Associated Press and fellow Times maverick Neil Sheehan), and you could never call him a radical with a straight face. But he always devoted himself, even when his work reached a nadir of relevance (his books on Baseball are . . . problematic), to getting the story in all its protean detail.
I think you would agree that the contrast to our present-day reportorial class . . . those J-school grads who content themselves with the magic tricks of CentCom handouts and Pentagon briefings . . . is incalculable.
for the series:
Obits
The Children of Lewis Hine #3
School store almost ready to open
(Lawton, OK; 1917)
for the series:
The Children of Lewis Hine
April 22, 2007
Collect 'Em All #27
Claudette Colbert
(No. 12 in a series of 50 from Player's Navy Cut Cigarettes)
Claudette Colbert was born in Paris on September 13th, 1905, and christened Claudette Cauchoin. In 1913 she moved with her family to America, and finished off her education in New York by attending an art school, where a chance meeting with a playwright resulted in a small part in a new production. This was in 1924 and she quickly won fame on Broadway. Her first film, a silent, was made between stage productions in New York, and after two talkies she was given a Hollywood contract. Among her latest successes are It Happened One Night, Cleopatra and Imitation of Life.
for the series:
Collect 'em All
Artists in Action #178
George Bernard Shaw holds up a wooden plank
for the series:
Artists in Action
Vietnam: Dramatis Personae #8
Tran Le Xuan (aka Madame Nhu)
for the series:
Vietnam - Dramatis Personae
April 21, 2007
The Art of the Centerfold #32
Pamela Anne Gordon
(Miss March, 1962)
for the series:
Art of the Centerfold
April 20, 2007
When Legends Gather #241
Charlton Heston, Sidney Poitier, James Baldwin, Marlon Brando
and Harry Belafonte
for the series:
When Legends Gather
April 19, 2007
Seminal Image #644
People Who Died #35
Robert Harron in True Heart Susie
(D.W. Griffith; 1919)
(I never bought the 'accidental' shooting story. I'm amazed anyone ever did)
for the series:
People Who Died,
Seminal Images
Kitty Carlisle Hart Dies at 96
Seminal Image #643
They Were Collaborators #298
Kitty Carlisle Hart and Harpo Marx get cosy in A Night at the Opera.
(Sam Wood; 1935)
Ms. Hart's New York Times obituary can be found here.
for the series:
Obits,
Seminal Images,
They Were Collaborators
April 18, 2007
They Were Collaborators #297
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band
for the series:
They Were Collaborators
Seminal Image #642
The Duellists
(Ridley Scott; 1977)
(stupendous thanks to Nate Bundy for this here image)
for the series:
Seminal Images
April 17, 2007
Relevant Quote #85
"I get drunk, I get mad, I get thrown from horses, I get all sorts of things.
But I don't get edited. I'd rather see my wife get fucked by the stableboy."
-- William Faulkner
for the series:
Relevant Quotes
Through the lens of Cyril Arapoff #4
A view from the steps of the National Gallery, looking towards St. Martin's Church.
for the series:
Through the Lens of Cyril Arapoff
The Art of the London Underground #16
Untitled by A. E. Cox; 1919
for the series:
Art of the London Underground
From the Sketch Book of Lawson Wood #11
Design for poster to advertise "The White Prophet".
for the series:
From the Sketch Book of Lawson Wood
