John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

When I Leave Berlin

Bruce Springsteen played Berlin last night. It's a city that's had a special connection for Springsteen; the Boss played in the former East Berlin in 1988, as the movement that led to the bloodless overthrow of 1989 was gathering force. That concert has been noted as being pretty influential.

To mark this week's concert, Springsteen reached into the record bin and pulled out a 1970s gem by British folkie Wizz Jones, and got something of a singalong going.

Pessimism and rainy days

"I don't believe in pessimism. If something doesn't come up the way you want, forge ahead. If you think it's going to rain, it will."
- Clint Eastwood  

Drop The Pilot

Animal, mineral, vegetable ... I could list the way I've always loved this Joan Armatrading tune. Here's a live version from a few years ago at Glastonbury. 

 

Playing dumb

"The great and almost only comfort about being a woman is that one can always pretend to be more stupid than one is and no one is surprised." 
- Freya Stark  

Hitch

Alfred Hitchcock was still making movies around the time I was getting fascinated with them, although my primary exposure to him as a kid was less seing things like Family Plot (his 1976 farewell) than reading The Three Investigators book series, which went out under his imprimatur. Soon enough, though, I couldn't get enough of watching his older films, and I still find many of them a thrill. 

I'm looking forward, then, to see what Anthony Hopkins does in the forthcoming film Hitchcock, which is about the making of Psycho. The movie started shooting last month. The publicity photo released at the start certainly indicates Hopkins will transform himself for the role, as he's done before. 

The Hitchcock poster at the top, by the way, was found here. 

That's Entertainment

Paul Weller has aged considerably since he wrote this Jam single in the late Seventies, but he's always played it. Here's a rendition from Jimmy Fallon earlier this month. 

How to get through the tail end of a long weekend

A little late, but here's Alan Doyle's contribution to Strombo for the end of the Victoria Day weekend: 

 

Where *does* the time go ...

"A committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours."
- Milton Berle

 

I'm sorry, but this meal doesn't fit within our budget

I've worked independently a couple of times during my career, and can relate to the humour in this video, although I think it will be even more biting for the independents (the graphic designers, the web developers, the writers, and so on) that have astonishingly frustrating conversations with clients about pricing. 

Eight-bit Pierce

The Community finale that featured an eight-bit-style rendering of the characters inside a bespoke videogame was, well, amazing. I still chuckle. 

I'm not sure what kind of show NBC expects to next year, having turfed creator Dan Harmon, but I have my doubts that the most clever show on U.S. TV will hang on to that description. Too bad. 

If only I had a network and could offer Harmon something. 

Cabot Tower at sunset

I snapped this a couple of weeks ago. I never tire of being up at Signal Hill, especially when the light is interesting. 

Personally impersonal

"I don't remember anybody's name. Why do you think the 'dahling' thing started?"
- Eva Gabor  

State of Independence

After Donna Summer died earlier this week after battling cancer, I played her cover of State of Independence, which was recorded a year or so after the original from Jon and Vangelis. It was kind of faithful, but had that Quincy Jones topspin in its production, particularly with the all-celebrity chorus, a good three years before We Are The World but sharing some of the same names. 

it's an interesting song, with lyrics that can be taken as stream-of-consciousness randomness, trite jibberish, or deeply spiritual. Take your pick. 

I still prefer the original, which appeared on The Friends of Mr. Cairo in 1981.  

 

Here's Summer's cover, from 1982. 

 

The old chair

"A house that does not have one worn, comfy chair in it is soulless."
- May Sarton

How Martin Sheen nailed that nervous breakdown scene in Apocalypse Now

We're so accustomed to cinematic sleights of hand, especially since the CG era began, that we often don't blink when we see something astonishing on the screen. Well, we think, they figured out a way of doing that. 

But sometimes what we see is what was shot. I was reminded of this while reading this list on Paste of movie scenes that were much more real than what we might have thought. It's a diverse list, from Harrison Ford's panicky lines at the Death Star (he deliberately did not read his dialogue, to ensure that what came to mind would be spontaneous) to Edward Norton popping Brad Pitt one while filming Fight Club. 

This clip, though, is from another realm altogether. I remember seeing Hearts of Darkness and being amazed to learn that Martin Sheen was a) drunk and b) genuinely falling apart while he was shooting a scene in which Willard is in that very condition. The smashing of the mirror and the smearing of the blood were all unexpected consequences; Sheen insisted that the cameras keep rolling. 

Boy George gets cleaned up

Not from drugs ... that came a few years later ... but through a remastered tape of Culture Club's appearance on Top of the Pops. Certainly a lot shinier than what passes for "vintage" video from the early Eighties. Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? was Boy George's introduction to the pop charts, and it still gets played, which is not too shabby at all. 

 

The Story of Send

Google pats itself on the back for its environmental policies and practices in The Story of Send. 

 

Aren't you a little tall to be a stormtrooper?

Today's TeeFury design speaks to me. (And I have the numerous headbumps to prove it. At 6'6", it's no picnic learning that some doorframes, signs, drops, etc., are more dangerous than others.) 

Loki, god of mixing it up with the locals

This video was made last August, while The Avengers was being filmed in Cleveland, but it's getting a new life (a billion bucks at the box office will spark a lot of interest in anything A-team) lately. Tom Hiddleston, who plays the villainous Loki, proves himself to be an all-round decent chap for a crowd of fans looking for a little excitement. 

 

The unabashed tunesmith

"Never be ashamed to write a melody that people remember."
- Burt Bacharach 

On Mother's Day especially

"There is nothing more thrilling in this world, I think, than having a child that is yours and yet is mysteriously a stranger."
- Agatha Christie  

Fear and reading

"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."
- Harper Lee

 

 

Gold on the Ceiling

The Black Keys have one of the melodies that's been hard to shake the last few weeks. 

The Black Keys - Gold On The Ceiling (Official... by Warner-Music

Let's hear it for the nonsense

"Confidence in nonsense is a requirement for the creative process."
- M.C. Escher  

 

Rethinking what a guitar hero is

Clever idea, as seen on Herochan.